


Never Stopped

by Endlesswriter03



Category: Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: AU, Angst, BAMF Betty Cooper, Betty Cooper & Kevin Keller Friendship, Betty runs away with a secret, Bughead College fic, Bughead Parents, Bughead baby, Canon Compliant, College, Daddy jughead, Discussion of Abortion, Ellie - Freeform, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Hal is coming back, Original Character(s), Panic Attacks, Riverdale, Romance, Seizures, Teen Pregnancy, Veronica and Betty Friendship, We Love BAMF Betty, baby girl - Freeform, betty keeps the baby, bughead - Freeform, not a slow burn, protective jughead, supportive Jughead
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2019-07-23 20:08:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 54,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16166084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Endlesswriter03/pseuds/Endlesswriter03
Summary: It's been a year since Betty has seen Jughead. It also has been a year since she left Riverdale without a word to anyone. She tried moving on with her life and thought she was doing a good job until she transfers to a different university only to run in the Jughead who happens to go to the same school. What will happen when she tells him the truth? That she didn't do what they agreed? Will Jughead forgive her? Can she forgive herself? BugheadNOTE: It has come to my attention that somehow my chapters got uploaded backward which is why things probably did not make any sense. It is now FIXED!





	1. Prologue

Prologue

“Excuse me,” Betty muttered softly as she made her around one of the many bodies standing around talking with drinks in their hand as she kept her eyes on the guy with the beanie on his head walking away from her and through the door to what turned out to be a small court year.

“That’s better,” Jughead sighed as the night air was much more welcoming than the loud music that was pounding on the walls out the house.

“Yeah,” Betty nodded as they walked down a small path to a small flowing water fountain that had the sound of softly moving water coming from it and sat down. She sighed as the pain from her pinching heel faded away. “I can finally think.” She chuckled as she looked around. “This is a nice place.”

“Yeah, it not to bad,” Jughead said following her eyes. “It is a bit of a step up from the trailer park don’t you think?”

“The trailer park was not that bad,” Betty said giving him a fond look. “That place has some pretty got memories.”

“Don’t I know it,” Jughead said and held up a cup full of an amber liquid. “Want a drink?” He asked her. “Don’t worry I made it myself.”

“No thanks,” Betty answered and smiled. “And I know you did because I was standing there when you made it.”

“Oh...duh,” Jughead shook his head and Betty raised an eyebrow at him.

“I never thought I would see the day that I would hear Jughead Jones say duh,” Betty teased and Jughead rolled his eyes.

“Don’t get used it,” He warned her as questions began filling his head. “So how was your first week of classes?” He asked her and Betty sent him a warm smile his way.

“I think it went really and well for one of them you already know that answer,” Betty told him pulling a small smile from Jughead.

“That I do,” Jughead told her laughing as he remembered how she had bribed to guy to her left into trading seats with him so he could sit beside her. “Did you really pay him a 100 bucks for him to switch with me?” He asked her looking at the ground below which made her smile.

“I sure did and what can I say, the investment is going to be well worth it,” Betty told him gaining a smile from him. “It is turning out to be the class I am now looking forward to the most.”

“Really?” Jughead asked softly looking up at her and she would feel his gaze on her. “I wonder why?”

“Me too,” Betty said slowly raising her eyes up to lock with his and felt that all too familiar tug of her breath that he caused whenever he looked at her in such a way and she knew that he would always make her feel that way. The sound of the back door opening caused them to jump and it gave her a moment to catch her breath and she hid a smile when she heard him clear his throat.

“Did you get everything sorted out with your mom?” Jughead asked changing the subject in which she was grateful for.  “You seemed a little uneasy the other day in the library when she found you.”

“Isn’t that is our status quo? Have we ever sorted out our issues?” Betty snarked before nodding. “Only time will tell with us, but I do think we are on the right track for mending things” Betty admitted to him.

“So, I thought you said that you were going to stop by the Times office last night,” Jughead said in a lower voice causing her to look up at him. “Unless you have changed your mind about joining us.”

“No,” Betty said immediately shaking her head vigorously. “I haven’t changed my mind at all. I just had something come up last night is all.” She told him not wanting to explain that her mother has unexpectedly shown up at her door to find her daughter holding an almost four-month-old screaming in her arms leading her to spill everything to her mom and her mother showing up at her door also proved to be a godsend because she had been a tremendous help with the baby and the night ended with Alice completely in love with her new granddaughter. Alice also told her that she needed to tell Jughead about Ellie just as Kevin had told her and they were right. He deserved to know the truth.

“Great,” Jughead said sounding relieved and took the moment while she wasn’t looking at him to study her a little closer. He could tell that there were things on her mind because looked like she was distracted by her though. “How about you come by on Monday?” He asked her. “Around 4?”

“I will be there,” Betty promised and she would be one way or another.

“So you dated Wesley?” Jughead asked with a teasing note in his voice as she rolled her eyes as she turned them up at him.

“Define dated,” She told him and Jughead sent a smirk at that went heated waves through her body and she swallowed as she tried to queue them all in. “I can’t believe the two of you are roommates.”

“Yeah, but between you and me,” Jughead said leaning closer to the side so that she was the only one who could hear what he had to say. “The guy is not my favorite person and he is a douche bag. That stays between you and me.”

“My lips are sealed,” Betty said pretending to zip her lips shut and threw the key over her shoulder. “See all gone. Why do you stay with him then?”

“Because it is only temporary until I find something better,” Jughead admitted to her. “Most of the time I am not even there because I am out studying in the library or something.”

“Or it sounds like you try not to be there,” Betty told him knowingly and he sent her a small smile.

“Well it is better to be out then in the place listening to him and Jenna go at it like monkeys,” Jughead said causing Betty to mirror the cringe on his face.

“Eww,” Betty groaned and shook her head as she tried to rid the thoughts from her mind. “Now I get why you don’t want to be there.”

“Well he made it sound like what the two of you had was pretty serious,” Jughead told her and he laughed as he watched her soft green eyes widen.

“Really?” Betty groaned and shook her head. “Because I didn’t know three dates qualified as being serious.”

“Well, the way he made it sound that you were completely obsessed over him,” Jughead said and Betty had to clap a hand over her mouth as she tried to contain the rolling laughter that was escaping from it.

“Are you serious? He actually said that?” Betty wheezed when her laughter finally died down.

“He said that you came here to come after him with hopes of getting back together,” Jughead explained. “And that you were obsessed.”

“Jug, I am not obsessed over him,” Betty corrected him turning her body crossing her one leg over the other. “As I said before, it was not even that serious. We only went on three dates and that was over the summer. And for the record, I did not come here to get back together with him and I arranged for my transfer back May before I even met him.”

“Good,” Jughead said giving her a warm smile. “You deserve better than that fool… What did you see in that guy anyway?”

“I have no idea,” Betty shaking her head. “I guess that is why his girlfriend gives me a cold look whenever I am around and apparently he has painted my image as a dumb blonde.”

“That is something you will never be,” Jughead said to her.

“Damn straight,” Betty grumbled and her eyes soften as they looked with his, “I really missed you Juggie.” She told him softly.

“I miss you too Betty,” Jug told her seriously and Betty looked at him for a moment before she reached over to take one of his hands in hers. Jughead dropped his eyes to there hands where the warmness that he had missed so much was now sitting against his palm and he brought her up to lips causing her eyes to sting. “So much,” He whispered against her skin and there were other things he wanted to tell her too. She then knew that she could no longer keep her secret to herself.

“Jughead,” Betty said weakly and the hitch in her voice caused him to look up to her now tear-filled eyes.

“What is it?” Jughead questioned as he watched one solitary tear escape one of her eyes and rolled down her cheek.

“Do you remember that last night?” Betty asked him thickly as he raised his hand up and used his thumb to wipe the tear off her cheek. “Before I left? What I told you that night?”

“I think about that night all the time,” Jughead said softly as he felt his own eyes began to prickle as he thought back to that night. “I remember what you said.” He told her watching her as she took in a big breath before pulling her eyes away from him and stared straight ahead of her. “All of it and about the abortion.”

Betty closed her eyes for a moment and he watched her lick her lips. “I didn’t do it.” She admitted her voice was still thick.

Jughead stared at her for a moment as he took in the words she spoke, but he wasn’t sure what he heard, so he shook his head and asked her. “What?” His question caused her to swing her eyes back to him.

“I didn’t have the abortion, Jug.”

-  
-  
-


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I am back with another chapter! Thank you for the reviews and wonderful words of encouragement to proceed with this story.
> 
> I do want to take a little time to explain my last chapter. The chapter is a future scene that will be coming up as we go, I just wanted to clear this out so that no one is confused. Also, it has taken me a little bit to get this started because I am supposed to be studying for my biology midterm, but my need to write is so strong that I can’t do anything else.
> 
> If anyone has any questions feel free to ask me and I will try to answer them the best way I can without giving the story away because I hate to give out spoilers because I want my readers to keep coming back. I am also on Tumblr my name is Endless Writer03 if you want to follow me please do so!
> 
> Oh, and the countdown to new bughead coming to the TV tomorrow is on! Also, I wanted to add that the story is canon up to 2x22 and I will be adding things from the new season as well.

Chapter One

Betty walked into her brand new apartment carrying one of the last moving boxes that she had brought along with her letting out a breath as she set it down on the floor and shook her aching arms. The box was heavy and turned around when she heard footsteps enter behind her to see her best friend Kevin Keller with a car seat on his arm.

“Where should I leave this little princess?” Kevin asked looking around the cluttered apartment with boxes in every corner. Betty looked around before moving over to the table clearing a spot as Kevin set her little precious cargo on the table and she reached to pull up the blanket to get a peek at her 3-month-old baby girl, Ellie, nestled into her car seat with her head tilted a little to the side and her tiny dark eyelashes laying gently across her skin. Betty couldn’t stop herself was running the back of her finger across her small cheek and her heart squeezed painfully as Ellie took a cute little shuddering breath as she smacked her tiny little lips, but didn’t wake. Betty took step back from her wanting to let her daughter sleep while and use the time to unpack her things while she could.

“You know I can stay,” Kevin told her gently and Betty shook her head. “And help you with all if this?”

“No, you don’t have to stay,” Betty said placing a hand on one of his arms. “You and Ronnie have done so much for me over the past year I couldn’t ask any more from the two of you.”

“Let me stay and help you,” Kevin told her seriously. “We can get a nice triple extra cheezy pizza and have an epic put away party.” He smiled at her.

“Are you sure?” Betty asked him as she was extremely touched by his generous offer. “I don’t want to keep you.”

“I don’t mind and you are not keeping me from anything,” Kevin said. “I will do anything for my girls.” He told her and Betty couldn’t keep the grin off of her face.

“Pizza sounds heavenly,” Betty said as her stomach growled at the image of a pizza flashing in her mind. “You wanna order or should I?”

“I will order and you find something to unpack,” Kevin told her as he got his phone out of his pocket and started swiping his finger on the screen as Betty turned around and started making her way down the hall towards the two bedrooms that he apartment housed for her going into Ellie’s room wanting to get started on it in case if she needed something for her.

Betty looked around wondering where to get started at and found herself glad that the movers had offered to stay and put together the furniture for her. She was going to have to send a nice little donation to them for their efforts as she reached down to open a box finding it full of Ellie’s outfits and started to pull them out to hang them up in the closet and when she was done she broke down the box and moved to another. Soon, she was done with putting the things in the closet and moved on to the stuff that went in the dressers and while was working her mind was wondering on how much her life had changed in the last year since she left her hometown of Riverdale, but she was pulled from her thoughts when she heard a small cry coming from the other room causing her to close the drawer she was working on and left to room to go check on her daughter.

When she entered the living room she saw Kevin pulling a screaming red-faced Ellie from her car seat and glanced at the clock noting that it had been a few hours since Ellie was fed which means her little girl was demanding a treat so she hurried over to the fridge where she had a couple of bottles prepared for such an occasion and got cup of very hot water from the sink and placed the bottle into the water, before going over to take Ellie from Kevin.

“Shhhh,” Betty said gently as she placed Ellie against her shoulder, whose cries were growing in volume, patting her back gently. “It’s okay,” She whispered into her daughter’s ear as she walked over to the counter pulling the bottle out of the water and settled down in one of the armchairs, supplied by Ronnie, repositioning Ellie by placing her in the crook of her arm being careful to make sure the milk wasn’t too warm or cold before placing the nipple to her mouth and giggled when Ellie quickly latched on sucking greedily at her milk.

“That girl sure has an appetite,” Kevin said sitting down on the couch across from her.

“She does,” Betty laughed nodding her head. “She had four ounces like two hours ago when we were at your apartment getting the last of the boxes. I guess moving does that to a girl.”

“Speaking of,” Kevin said when a knock sounded on the door. “Pizza’s here,” He said getting up to go answer the door to get the pizza and to pay the delivery guy. Betty rolled her eyes when Kevin started flirting with the guy and looked down to Ellie.

“Some things never change,” Betty said to the little girl who was watching her with her dark blue eyes. Blue eyes that reminded her so much of the little girl’s father which made her think back the night when she saw him last about a year ago.

-  
_13 months ago_

_Betty pushed back in the swing she was currently sitting in waiting for her boyfriend to show up. She rubbed her hands together as she began to fill sweaty as her nerves were beginning to fray. She closed her eyes as her stomach rolled violently wondering if it was also from her nerves or from what she figured was morning sickness as she thought back to last week on the day when she was in her bathroom holding the very thing that confirmed the suspicions that she had held within herself for about a week. That item was a very positive pregnancy test and she hurried out to get another three tests and took each one and they all came back with that pink plus sign. Betty lowered her face in her hand as the news was still reeling her mind a week later and she knew that there was no way she could have a baby now for many reasons… One: her mother would ship her off or kill her. Two: She was about to leave for school in New York City and so many more. She heard footsteps approaching her from behind and turned to see Jughead making his way towards her, but she frowned as she saw the deep frown etched on his face with his eyes on the ground. She swallowed as she knew that something was wrong._

_“Jug?” She called out causing him to look up at her and she noted the broken look in his eyes. “What’s wrong?” She asked him getting out of the swing meeting him halfway and he just shook his head._

_“Everything,” Jughead answered weakly and she tilted her head a little as she took his hand into hers._

_“Tell me,” Betty told him as they walked over to one of the picnic tables and sat down._

_“Remember when I told you that I sent in my manuscript?” Jughead asked her and she nodded._

_“Of course I do,” She answered and he let out a weak laugh. “Did you hear anything back?”_

_“I did,” Jughead answered his voice now void of any emotion which told her it was not good news. She bit her lip as he looked away. “They rejected it.”_

_“I am so sorry Juggie,” Betty told him knowing how much he was looking forward to being published. “It will happen.”_

_“Or maybe it will never happen because I am just not good enough,” Jug said coldly and shrugged his shoulders effortlessly. “Why did I think that I had a shot of getting out of here?”_

_“You are getting out of here! You have been accepted by five major colleges in New York, Jug,” She told him seriously. “That is amazing.”_

_“I don’t even want to go to college Betty,” Jug told her as he stood up from his seat and began to pace in front of her. “All I ever wanted was to write novels, but now that is out the door and it is over, ”He looked at her and she could see the tears lining his eyes and Betty got her feet and closed the distance between them placing her hand on his cheek and smiled at the way he leaned into her touch._

_“Listen to me,” Betty told him softly as she rubbed his cheek with the small pad of her thumb. “There is no way it is over for you. This is just your beginning. Every writer gets rejected at least once in their life and I feel sorry for that publisher for rejecting you and it is their loss, not yours.” She told him and Jughead pulled away from her and she knew he was doing this so she wouldn’t see him wiping away his tears._

_“How can you be with someone like me?” He asked her but still turned away from her._

_“What do you mean ‘someone like me’?” She asked him as she walked around him to look into his eyes._

_“You deserve some much more than I can ever give you Betty,” Jughead told her looking up at her for the first time in minutes._    
_Betty stared at him for a moment as his words settled into her heart cracking it with each of their weight. “Jughead what are you saying?” She asked her voice had thickened._

_“I am saying that I have to let you go,” Jughead told her and Betty felt her eyes prickle at his words. “Because I will never ever be good enough for you Betty.” He told her his voice broke as he said her name and at the sight of tears entering her beautiful green eyes. “You are going places that I will never be able to reach.”_

_“You know I would stay for you,” Betty told him thickly as she blinked back the tears that were threatening to spill over as her chest tightened so much it felt like she couldn’t breathe._

_“I knew you would say that when I told you that I am not leaving Riverdale and I love you way too damn much to ask you to stay,” Jughead told her as he reached up to cup her cheek._

_“Jughead, you are the love of my life,” Betty said in a broken voice as she felt the warmth of his hand spread throughout her entire being. “I don’t want to lose you,” She told him and he shook his head at her and even though his words were breaking her heart she knew that when Jughead had something in his mind that there was no changing his mind and if she were honest with herself they were always heading to this point in their life nor did it hurt any less._

_“You will never lose me, Betty,” Jughead told her as reached up to cup her other cheek in his hand as well looking into her eyes and she could feel his gaze deep into her soul. “I will never stop loving you.”_

_“And I will never stop loving you,” Betty told him and she swallowed as she thought back to the reason why she wanted to meet him tonight and she pulled away from him and laced her hands together. “Jughead, there is something that you need to know,” She told him as she turned back around to face him and bit her lip as she looked to the ground as she tried to find the strength within herself so she could say what she needed too and she only found it when he raised her chin with his finger only to meet those blue earnest eyes she loved so much._

_“Tell me,” Jughead urged her just as she had said to him only moments before and Betty swallowed and let out a deep breath._

_“I’m pregnant, Jug,” She said in a low voice and she watched as shock came present on his face and almost wanted to laugh at how wide his eyes grew at her words and his finger fell away from her chin. “Jug?”_

_He blinked silently for a few seconds before he raised his eyes to hers. “What did you say?” He asked her as if he was wondering if he had heard her wrong._

_“I said that I am pregnant Jug,” Betty said and she watched as panic began to fill his eyes as he began to pace in front of her something that he had picked up from her over their years together._

_“Are you sure?” Jughead asked her not looking up and she could practically see the thoughts blaring in his head._

_“Four tests confirmed it,” Betty whispered as her eyes began to fill up with tears once again as she walked over to the picnic table sitting back down. “So very sure,” She answered as he sat down beside her placing a hand on her back._

_“When did you find out?” Jughead asked her turning to look at her as he tried to clear all the negative thoughts clouding his mind._

_“Last week,” Betty answered in a whisper._

_“Last week?!?” Jughead yelled a little louder than he meant to_ causing _her to jump in her seat. “You have known about this for a whole week? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”_

_“I needed some time to think about what I am going to do,” Betty told him seriously as she reached up to wipe a few tears that had escaped from her eyes._

_“Does your mom know?” Jughead asked looking away from her afraid of the answer wondering where he could hide from the hurricane that was named Alice Cooper on a mission to bury his body ten feet underground._

_“Hell no!” Betty said shaking her head rapidly. “Do you think I would be here in front of you if I told her that I was pregnant? She would probably ship me off like she did Polly which is why I am going to end it.”_

_Jughead snapped his head around to look at her because the words that came out of her mouth were something he thought would ever come out of Betty Cooper’s mouth. “What?” He asked her noting the heartbreak in her eyes. “What do you mean_ end _it?”_

_“I mean what you think I mean, Jug,” Betty told him and shook her head. “I never thought I would ever consider this but I can’t have a baby. We are barely out of high school and leaving for school in a few weeks time. Also, my mom will literally kill me if I were to go through with it, but I decided to talk to you first to see where you stand before I did anything.”_

_“Well, I can’t raise a baby either,” Jughead said shaking his head. “I literally have nothing to offer to a child. I mean I didn’t really have the best father figure growing up and I have no money since I used most of it to get by when I wasn’t living at home and I can’t have a child knowing that I would only fail the child just like I have failed at everything else in my life.” He told her and Betty placed a hand on his shoulder._

_“You are not a failure, Jughead Jones,” Betty told him seriously. “Not by a long shot.” She added and nodded. “So we agree that an abortion is our only option?” Betty asked him her voice breaking into sobs and Jughead wrapped his arms around her pulling her to him while fighting back his own tears as she sobbed against his chest._

_“It’s going to be okay,” He whispered into her ear as he tightened his arms around him. “It’s going to be okay, Betty.”_

_“Betty.”_

_“Betty...”_

_“Betty...”_

“Betty!”

Betty’s eyes snapped from up from the spot she was staring at on the floor to see Kevin standing above her holding two plates of pizza and was watching her with a concerned look. “What?” She asked him sounding confused.

“I said here you go,” Kevin said extending one of the plates full of food towards. “Didn’t you hear a word I said?” He asked her wearing a worried look on his face.

“No,” Betty said taking the plate from him setting it on the arm of the chair as she pulled the bottle from Ellie’s mouth before sitting Ellie up so and started patting her firmly on the back. “Sorry,” She sighed looking up to Kevin who was now sitting across from her.

“Where did you go?” Kevin asked her before taking a big bite from one of his slices. “Anywhere interesting?” He asked her wiggling his eyebrows.

“No,” Betty said shaking her head grabbing a napkin that Kevin had also supplied with the plate and used it to wipe away a string of drool that was dripping out of Ellie’s mouth down to her jean where it was leaving a nice wet spot as Ellie let out a loud belch. “That’s it,” She said smiling at Ellie as reached over to her plate getting a slice of pizza and turned to Kevin. “I just have stuff on my mind with school starting up again,” She admitted.

“My little college Sophomore,” Kevin sighed dramatically as he pretended to wipe away a proud tear causing her to ball up a fresh napkin and throw it at him. “Hey! Be careful of what you are teaching Ellie there.”

“Ellie is learning just fine,” Betty told him and looked down to her daughter smiling. “Isn’t that right?” she asked her and Ellie responded with an adorable grin. “See?” She sassed looking up at Kevin who was shaking his head at the two of them.

“When do your classes start?” Kevin asked curiously as he sank back into the couch propping his legs up making himself perfectly comfortable.

“Monday,” Betty sighed slowly causing Kevin to narrow his eyes at her.

“I detect a hint of worry in your voice,” Kevin accused lightly causing Betty to narrow her own eyes at him. “Spill,” He demanded. “What is on your mind, Cooper? Are you worried about your classes?”

“A little,” Betty nodded as she shrugged her shoulders carelessly. “I mean it is Vassar College and I am wondering if I have made the right decision to transfer here. I mean it is going to be demanding.”

“It wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t mean to be,” Kevin told her as he threw the leftover piece of crust on to his plate. “But, I don’t think that is the thing that is truly worrying you because you and I both know that you rock at school. Look at last semester, you were pregnant and still acing those tests.”

“Well, I gotta give my all to my girl here,” Betty said lovingly as she ran a hand over Ellie’s head that was sprinkled lightly in dark fine baby hair. “She deserves it.” She said unable to resist the urge to bend to over to place a kiss on Ellie’s forehead, what can she say she was addicted to giving her baby kisses because she was just so damn kissable.

“You two melt my heart faster than the Notebook,” Kevin sighed placing a hand over his heart. “You do know that I am coming to visit every Sunday right? I don’t know how I am going to last without my daily Ellie fix nor does Ronnie I think she is as addicted to that little girl as I am. You know what, I think I am just going to rent the apartment down the hall from you.”

“No,” Betty said shaking her head. “You are going to do no such thing, Kevin Keller! I am not the heartbroken little girl I was a year ago and I need to do this on my own. Ellie and I will be fine and you and Ronnie are more than welcome to come and visit as my door will always be open to you guys. I am so thankful to have friends such as the two of you and I love you guys more than you possibly know,” she said blinking as she felt her eyes beginning to well up with tears.

“You know if you ever need anything, I will be here in a heartbeat,” Kevin told her as he sat up and Betty flashed him a warm smile.

“I know,” Betty told him and Ellie let out a small squeal. “See even Ellie girl here agrees,” Betty laughed as Kevin tossed his plate aside as he got off the couch walking over to Betty and picked up the little girl off of Betty’s lap causing the little girl to let out a series of giggles which spread through Betty as she realized how lucky she was having everything that meant to her right here in the room with her.

After they finished off the whole pizza and Kevin got enough Ellie kisses to last him until he saw her again, Kevin slowly walked to the door with Betty by his side to see him out but not before Kevin turned around to wrap Betty in a tight hug.

“Remember, I am just a phone call away,” Kevin told her seriously as he pulled back from her. “It doesn’t matter what hour of the day it is you call me.”

“I promise,” Betty nodded sending him a watery smile as he pulled the door open and stepped out of the hall. “I love you!”

“I love you more, always!” Kevin told her as she leaned up against the door and watched him walk away from the door until he turned the corner to go down the stairs. Betty sniffled as she pulled back so she can closed the door sealing her little world from the outside and looked around the empty apartment that she would be making into a home for the both of them and walked over to Ellie who was not seated in the little swing that Kevin had been generous enough to set up for her before he left and squatted down to Ellie’s level. “Well, it is just us,” Betty sighed and looked around once more. “Just us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whewww! The first chapter is done! I just want to say that the love between Kevin and Betty is just straight up friendship. I love the friendship in the show and I wanted to the showcase it here as well.


	3. Chapter two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, I wanted to let you know that I made some changes to my prologue simply because it wasn't working for the story and I needed to fix because that the way that I am. I also may add some things from the new season because there as aspects that I would like to explore in it with this fic and I am excited to show what I have plans for this

Betty yawned as she hurried around the kitchen with Ellie placed on her hip as she gathered the last minute things that Ellie would need for her time in the campus daycare where she would spending time until Betty got done with class. Betty had meant to it the night before, but she ended up falling asleep on the couch watching Netflix on her computer after she gave Ellie her bath and put her bed for the night. She used her only free hand to zip up the bag then turned around to scan the living room that was now completely cluttered free as she spent most of the weekend unpacking to see if she had forgotten anything that she herself needed for class.

“I think that is everything Ellie Girl,” Betty said to the baby in her arms who was chewing on her fingers as Betty walked over to the counter pulling Ellie from her hip and gently placed her into the carrier where Ellie began to fuss as she began fixing the straps before clasping them together. “I know you don’t like this thing, but we gotta go or Mommy is going to be late and we can’t be late on our first day,” Betty told Ellie as she reached over plucking Ellie’s pacifier out of the pocket of her diaper bag placing it at her mouth wiggling it around to encourage Ellie to latch on and she did as Betty expected causing her to settle down. Betty took that time to pull her backpack that contained her two books and laptop and Ellie’s diaper bag over her shoulder. When you are a mom you learn how to carry things like a pro. Betty then grabbed Ellie’s blanket and threw it over the carrier before picking the carrier up off the counter and made her way out the door making sure to double check the locks before making her way to her car.

It took her a little longer to reach the daycare center as the streets were loaded with new students trying to find their way around the campus and to get to class. She pulled into the first parking spot she could find and hurried out of the car and into the back grabbing the bag and unsnapping Ellie’s carrier from its base before going inside where she was immediately approached by a middle-aged woman with long dark hair.

“Elizabeth, I was wondering when I would be seeing you,” She said greeting Betty with a warm smile.

“Sorry, Ms. Carson I would have been here sooner,” Betty told her but the woman just waved her hand at her.

“Don’t worry about it and I told you to call me Leigh. If I hear Ms. Carson I will be looking for my mother,” Leigh told her causing Betty to laugh. “Now, where is my sweet Ellie?”

“She wasn’t too happy this morning when I put her in here,” Betty said walking over placing the seat on the couch and lifted up the blanket to see she had fallen asleep on the drive over which made Betty a little sad as she wanted to see those sweet eyes right before she left, the moment she had been dreading all morning.

“Oh look how big she has gotten,” Leigh sighed as she looked into the carrier. “I can’t believe how much a difference a month makes.”

“I know,” Betty smiled softly. “She is going so many new things and her personality is coming out with something new every day. She did try to roll over yesterday but doesn’t have it quite figured out yet.” Betty sighed as she looked at her watch. “Now I am only going to be gone for a couple of hours and I think I packed enough milk until I get through if not you have all my contact information and please call me if you need anything.”

“Of course,” Leigh said nodding her head and Betty felt her eyes beginning to well up.

“Her little-stuffed toy is also in the bag,” Betty told her forcing her voice to stay steady as she spoke.“If she needs me I am only a phone call away,” Betty swallowed roughly and Leigh smiled gently as she placed a hand on to her shoulder. “I’m sorry,” Betty told her weakly as she reached up wiping away a tear from her eyes.

“Don’t be,” Leigh told her softly. “It’s hard and we have all been here but just remember you are getting yourself an education to better yourself and the future for Ellie.”

“I know,” Betty sniffled as she looked over to Ellie for a moment to lean down to press a kiss to her downy head. “I won’t be gone long,” Betty told Leigh.

“Take all the time you need,” Leigh told her. “Darling, it is what we are here for. Now go, before you are late for campus circle.” Leigh told her nudging her towards the door. “Ellie will be fine. I promise.”

Betty glanced down at Ellie one more time before she forced herself to turn around or she would never leave fighting back tears as she walked through the doors back out to her car. When she sank down into her seat Betty covered her face with her hands as she broke down allowing herself to sob for a few minutes and heard her phone go off. She wiped her cheeks off as she pulled her phone from her pocket pressing her finger against the pad pulling up her home screen to see two new text messages. One from Kevin and the other from Ronnie and opened Ronnie’s first.

_ Ronnie: Good Luck today B! You are going to do fine. Now go make Auntie V proud. Give Ellie a kiss for me!! _

_ Betty smiled as she read the words knowing that Veronica would always be there to give her the encouragement she needed and then she clicked back and opened Kevin’s message. _

_ Kevin: How are you doing? Ellie is going to be fine. _

Betty bit her lip as she typed back her response to his message as Kevin knew how she really felt because when she had come here to sign Ellie up she had a major panic attack in the car with Kevin on the way back to New York City.

_ Betty: I know. It’s just that I have never left her with anyone but the two of you when I went on those three boring dates. _

_ Kevin: You never did say what went wrong with those dates. I saw the guy from afar. He was damn good looking. _

_ Betty: Then you can have him. I can’t date anyone who has no interest in music and the fact that he took three hours to eat a whole plate of spaghetti. Look I gotta go. I will message you when class gets out. _

_ Kevin: Of course. Also, remember you have that article due as well this Friday. _

_ Betty: Shit!!!! I forgot about that! I will get it in. Tell Trish it will be in her inbox soon. _

_ Kevin: Will do. _

Betty sighed as she put her phone down remembering that she had to be somewhere as she started the car and waited for a couple of cars to pass before pulling out and turning in the direction of the building that she was supposed to be at about five minutes ago. Luckily, the place she needed to go was really close to her apartment complex so she just parked in the spot she left vacant just moment before and didn’t waste any time reaching behind her seat grabbing her bag and hurried out of the car and across the grass where students were standing about some talking to other students and other looking at lost on where to go. She followed the sign that said to go to the table with the first letter of her last name and kept walking until she found the C going up to it. They guy who staffed it noticed her almost as soon as she stepped up to the table.

“How are you doing?” She asked politely and the guy just looked her up and down as if she was from another planet. Shaking it off, Betty cleared her throat. “I would like to check in.” She told him.

“Name and Class,” He sighed sounding completely board as he picked up the clipboard.

“Elizabeth Cooper and I am a Sophomore,” Betty answered and the guy flipped a couple of pages and she watched as his fingers ran down the names and nodded when he found her name and checked it off and then started gathering her information.

“Answer this joke for me,” the guy said as he pulled her packet out of the file and looked. Betty tilted her head to the side as she began tapping her foot on the ground and just by his cocky tone and smirk Betty could already tell the guy was a douche. “What did the blonde say when after glimpsing at a box of Cheerios?”

Betty blinked for a moment trying to decide if the man was serious and looked around the courtyard to see if anyone else had heard it before turning back to the guy. “Huh?” She asked him.

“I figured you wouldn’t get it. It is one of the easiest jokes out there,” He told her like it was the most obvious thing. “I guess your brain isn’t filtered that way,” He shrugged at her.

“Well, my brain just doesn’t filter bullshit like that. Sorry,” Betty said mimicking the same shrug. “Besides, that joke if you can call it one is probably one of the worst jokes I ever heard,” She added internally cheering as her words wiped the smirk off his face. “Can I have my stuff please?” She asked him and gave him a sweet smile when he handed her the packet. “Thank you very much for your time,” She said to him kindly before turning away from the table as she pulled a piece of paper out of the packet to read where she had to go for campus circle where you sat with a small group and introduce yourselves to other students and all that good stuff. She didn’t want to do it but it was required by the school. She followed the small map that was provided for her to the group she was supposed to be, finding them in a small circle in a corner. They must have heard her approaching because they all turned around to locking their eyes on her as she stood frozen unsure of what to do as the glare coming from the group head was worse than her mothers.

“Is there a reason why you are late?” He asked her sounding annoyed by her interruption making her bite her lip.

“I got a little lost,” Betty lied but that caused him to glare harder at her.

“That is no excuse,” He said shaking his head and then pointed to the empty spot next to a girl with very curly hair. “I advise you to use your map a little better next time. Now sit down so we can get back to what we were doing.”

“And there is no excuse for you being rude or an ass,” Betty snapped sending her own glare back at him as she sat down in the spot he had pointed to. Normally, she was not one for confrontation but she was not going to let him speak to her that way and think it was okay. If anything having Alice Cooper as her mother had its strong points and she knew if she were her mother that the guy would probably be in tears by now.

The guy looked at her shocked and it told her that he was used to bossing people around and probably got away with it. “You can continue,” She told him seriously by pointing to the other students. “I am sure that they want to get away from your ass as I do.” This gained a couple of snickers from the others and earned her another harsh glare from him.

“Let’s get back on subject,” He said turning to his new peers. “As I was saying a moment ago, the objective of this group is to allow you to know other students so that way you can have peers you can interact with while you are going to school here. So, now we are going to around the group and you are going to introduce yourself by telling a little bit about yourselves. I will start it. My name is David. I am a senior here at Vassar. My major is Political Science. I will be graduating this upcoming spring and that moment cannot come any sooner. After I finish here I will be heading to Yale Law school where I will pursue a law degree with a concentration on personal injury. I hope to have my own practice one day. My advice to you is to do your best and to take your studies seriously. There is no time for any slack.” He said turning to give her a look and she responded by rolling her eyes as he turned back to the rest of the group. “Now enough about me let get started with you,” David said pointing to the student to the right of him.

While the group was taking their turn, Betty found herself thinking about Ellie and even though it had only been an hour, she missed her and then her mind went to the article that she needed to finish so she could send it in. While she was living in the city, Kevin had hooked her up with a website that paid her to write about five articles a month for them. It was not all that bad as the pay was good and allowed her to stay home with Ellie. When she noticed that the group had gone quiet and felt a nudge on her knee she looked up to see the whole group staring at her.

“I’m guessing it’s my turn?” Betty asked slowly and David just nodded at her. Betty took a deep breath as she silently cursed at herself for not paying better attention before she started her introduction. “My name is Elizabeth Cooper. I just transferred here from New York University. I am a Sophomore and my major is Mass Communication. I am a freelance writer for a private website in New York City. My career goal is to become an investigative journalist and my goal is to help people get the honest answers they deserve.” She trailed off hoping it was enough to please them because she was ready to go as her first class was about to start and it was a class that she was dreading because it was with her mother. Her mother whom she had not seen in a year.

“So this will conclude our campus circle time. I will be your personal student advisor. This is my card,” David instructed as handed out one out to each student and each student got up to leave to do other things until he reached Betty. She looked at the card extended out to her for a moment before she shook her head.  
“I don’t want it,” Betty told him as she got to her feet pulling her backpack strap over her shoulder as she watched him hurry to his feet.

“Just take it because you never know when you will need me,” David told her extending the card back out to her.

“I am pretty sure that I will never need you because I don’t plan on seeing you again,” “Betty told him.

“Everyone needs advice sometimes,” David told her wisely. “Having a support system is important while going to school you know.”

“I know it is,” Betty snarked back “As for a support system, I have one of the best out there. It may include only three people at the moment, but it enough for me to get by.”

“Don’t be so sure of yourself Blondie,” David sniped back at her. “I just hope you never lose your way with that attitude.”

“I am pretty sure that if I ever got lost that I will be able to find my own way back,” Betty said back to him. “By the way, my name is Elizabeth, not Blondie.” She informed him as she took the card from him only to place it back into his shirt pocket. “Thank you anyway.” She smiled at him as she started to walk away from him.

“You will need to speak to me,” He called after her. “Everyone does eventually.”

Betty stopped walking and turned around to look at him. “Don’t be so sure of yourself,” She said tossing his own words back at him. “Because I am not everyone,” Betty added before turning back around heading towards the English building where her first class located smiling at the proud feeling of standing her own ground filled her and sighed in relief as she entered the English building on time and followed the room numbers trying to find her classroom.

“Elizabeth?”

Betty stopped walking at the sound of her name being called and wondering if she should turn around to see if she was actually that the person was talking to because she was pretty sure that she didn't know anyone that attended this school other than her mother. Then she heard them say her name once more and this time she turned around to see who it was and her eyes widen as she saw a young man making his way towards her who was also looking at her with wide eyes.

“Wesley is that you?” Betty asked him unsurely.  
  
“Yes, it is,” Wesley answered as he came to a standstill in front of her as a confused look entered his eyes. “Are you here to see me?” He asked her.

It was her turn to look confused. “Why would I be here to see you?” She asked him feeling her eyebrows furrow on their own accord.

“Because I go here,” Wesley told her and Betty groaned internally at this answer. “So what are you doing here?” He asked her and Betty stared at him for a few minutes before remembering who she was talking to. The boring guy that she had just spoken to Kevin about in their text earlier and she wondered to herself why she had tortured herself by going on three dates and she let out a slow breath.

“I have a creative writing class in a few minutes,” Betty answered him. “So, I guess that is why I am here.” She added shrugging her shoulders in a lazy fashion and she looked up to see him staring at her with a dumb shocked look on his face. “What?” She asked him wondering what was so fucking shocking, but before he got to answer a young girl stepped up beside him looking up at him.

“Wesley, we need to go or we are going to be late for my class,” She sighed dramatically before she turned to look at Betty her eyes chilling at the sight of her. “Who is this?” the girl asked Wesley her tone matching her eyes. “I am Jenna.” She announced as she placed a hand onto Wesley’s arm. Both girls looked at Wesley before looking back at each other.

“I am Elizabeth,” Betty answered for him crossing her arms.

Jenna stared at her for a moment before she turned to Wesley. “Wait a second… You mean that Elizabeth from New York City?” She asked him and Wesley let out a long sigh before he nodded.

“What do you mean ‘that Elizabeth’?” Betty asked her and Jenna turned to her narrowing her eyes at her.

“It just means that he told me about you,” Jenna said sweeping her eyes down Betty’s frame and raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing here?” Jenna asked her as she lifted her eyes back up to Betty’s face.

“Going to school,” Betty answered starting to get annoyed by all the questioning.

“Really?” Jenna asked her sounding suspicious causing Betty to raise an eyebrow at her. “In that case, just so that we are clear. Wesley is mine.” Jenna told her in a low voice and Betty saw Wesley drop his face into his hand. “Which means you can’t have him back.”

Betty bit her lip to keep herself from laughing as she realized why the girl was giving her such dirty looks. “Oh, you can have him,” Betty told her seriously and glanced down at her watch to check the time. “As much as I would love to talk, I really need to get going or I will be late for class,” Betty said turning around quickly walking around the corner where she let herself melt into a series of giggles as she went through the hall making sure to keep her attention on the room numbers once more and she felt her mirth quickly changing to dread as she arrived at a room with the door closed. It was the room that she had been searching for although it was not the room in which her class which was a few doors down from this one.

Betty felt the glare of the door as she raised her hand to knock tapping on the wood twice and waited for a few moments and she heard the words.

“Come in.”

Betty closed her eyes as she placed her hand onto the doorknob swallowing as she turned the handle pushing the door in walking into the room where she saw her mother for the first time in over a year standing in front of her desk looking down at something on the surface with her hand scribbling something on piece of paper before stopping to turn around to see her visitor and Betty watched as the color drain from Alice Cooper’s face as her eyes zeroed in on her.

“Hi, Mom.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe! Yup. I did! I ended it there!  
> Before you get worried and ask where Jughead is, well he is coming and soon. Stay tuned to find out w


	4. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank my three betas for all the hard work that you put in to help my chapter to become it's better self.
> 
> Thank you for all your views and kudos!

Hey everyone! I am back with another chapter! Hope you enjoy it! Thank you for reading!

* * *

"Hi Mom," Betty said slowly, watching as her mother stood in front of her, looking at her with shock in her eyes. She dropped her eyes from her mother not knowing what to say next, but it was her mother's turn to shock her when Alice took a few steps forward before wrapping her up in a tight embrace. Betty smiled, melting into her mother's hug as she wrapped her arms around her mother's back, fighting back tears. She admitted to herself that she had missed her mother and her warm embraces. Even though their relationship could be seen strained at times since they often went head to head with each other.

"Oh, Betty," Alice sniffled in her ear as she pulled back and moved to cup her face in her hands. "I am so glad that you're okay," Alice told her. The tears in her eyes made Betty regret the decision of cutting her mother off when she left Riverdale. A panicked look entered Alice's eyes.

"You are okay right?" Alice asked her worriedly, as she looked over her daughter. "It's not your seizures is it?" she asked.

"I am fine, Mom," Betty said, shaking her head. "And I haven't had a seizure since high school finals," she informed her slowly. She felt the air being replaced with tension as Alice's face began to harden, just as Betty had expected.

"Oh okay," Alice nodded as she crossed her arms. "Now that I know that you're alive and well, after disappearing without a word to me, or anyone else for that matter, what are you doing here?"

Betty swallowed, as she felt the temperature of the room drop a few degrees from the chilly tone of her mother. She tried to find the right words to say. "Well, I just wanted to say hi because-" Betty started, but Alice cut her off.

"So, you just wanted to say hi after disappearing for an entire year without any efforts of contacting me other than the letter you left me on your pillow for me to find the next morning? You think you could just walk in here to say hi?" Alice said thinly, though Betty could hear the wobbling in her voice. "Did you think it was going to be that easy?"

"No," Betty shook her head slowly, unable to keep the guilt out of her voice. "I don't think it's going to be that easy, Mom." She said regretfully, dropping her eyes to the floor.

"I've been really worried about you, Betty," Alice told her. "I had no idea where you were, or where you went. I didn't know if you were okay, or safe, or even if you were alive. After everything our family has been through, how could…" Alice swallowed thickly. "How could you leave me like that?" She asked tearfully. "Will you look up at me damn it?" Alice snapped, causing Betty to snap her eyes up from the ground. "Why would you run away from me like that?"

"It is a long story, Mom," Betty said, and she watched as streaks of hurt flashed through Alice's eyes, matching the pain-filled voice Betty had heard only seconds before.

"Well, I would love to hear it," Alice said, motioning her hands for Betty to explain. "Now would be a good time, Betty." She added, placing her hands on to her hips. It almost made Betty smile at the sight, so common was it throughout her childhood.

"I will explain, but I just can't do it right now," Betty said, treading slowly with her words.

"Because?" Alice snapped as she tilted her head, searching her daughter's green eyes. She looked for clues in their depths, noticing how tired they looked, picking up hints of shadows. Which meant that Betty was harboring a secret or two, noticing the dark circle underneath her eyes that was obviously covered up with concealer.

"Because I have class in a few minutes," Betty answered, causing Alice's eyes to snap up from examining her daughter's face.

"You go to school here?" Alice asked her, unable to keep the surprise out of her voice.

"I do, which is why I am here. I am in one of your classes," Betty answered wringing her hands together as she felt the urge to curl her fingers into fists. "I figured it would be better if I talked to you personally then to pop up unexpectedly.."

"Well thank you for that consideration," Alice said, a hint of sarcasm lacing her voice. "What's your major?" She asked, even though she knew what the answer was. Even though she hadn't seen or heard from Betty in over a year, she still knew her daughter. No time apart would ever change that.

" Mass Communications," Betty answered, and Alice graced her with a smile.

"I should have known," Alice said knowingly. "You always had that thirst for answers and news as a young girl," Alice added as the two women shared a small snicker, lightening the tension in the room a bit. "What class of mine do you have?"

"Principles of Journalism," Betty replied, and Alice reached behind her. "It's okay if I take your class right? Like totally legal?"

"It is," Alice told her as she wrote down on a notepad. "Someone else has to grade your work so it won't seem like I am playing favorites. Just so you know, don't expect me to go easy on you in class because you are my daughter." She said, raising a smooth penciled eyebrow at her

"I wouldn't expect anything less, Mom," Betty smiled as Alice placed the pad back on to the desk.

"What else do you have?" Alice asked curiously.

"I have Laws for the Media with Callahan tomorrow and I have a Creative Writing class, which is in a few minutes, with Birmingham," Betty counted on her fingers.

"Eww, Birmingham," Alice cringed at the name. "The guy is a sleazeball and has no use in the creative world. Be careful with him."

"So, what should I call you?" Betty asked, and Alice looked at her confused.

"What do you mean?" Alice asked her.

"Do I call you Mom or Mrs. Cooper? Although, that would be a little weird," Betty sighed, biting her lip.

"You can call me Mom," Alice answered. "Unless you don't want people to know that you are my daughter…" Alice trailed off and Betty shook her head.

"No, it's not that. I just want people to think I got here because I deserve it, not because you're my mother," Betty explained.

"Betty, if you just be yourself, they will see that you got here because you deserve it. Not because of me," Alice said to her softly. "You are an extremely hard worker and you have shown it time and time again.. Apply that here and you'll blow them away," She added encouragingly. "I think you will do very well here, and I can't say that I am not proud that my daughter is following me in my footsteps. Now, I must go. I have a class in a few minutes, just as you do," Alice told her in that motherly tone of hers.

"I really missed you, Mom," Betty admitted, and she watched as Alice's eyes softened. She took a closed the distance between them and reached up to cup Betty's face with her hands.

"I missed you too Betty," Alice said as she pulled a hand away from one of her cheek and used her hand to brush back a loose strand of blonde hair behind Betty's ear. "But I am not okay with what you did Betty. You really hurt me by leaving the way you did." Alice told her seriously. "And I still want to know why."

"I am so sorry Mom," Betty said as she lifted her arms to wrap them around Alice's shoulders bringing her in for a hug in which Alice warmly returned.

"Come and see me later," Alice ordered as she took a step back, walking around her desk to gather up her things. "I want to know how your first day went," Alice said, and Betty cringed as she thought about the article she needed to write.

"I have to work later, but I can call you if you like," Betty offered, and Alice shook her head.

"No phone calls," She told her. "I want to be able to see you. So, while you are going to school here, you are going to make time to see me at least once a week, understood?" Alice asked her sternly, leaving no room for Betty to refuse.

"Understood," Betty agreed, nodding as her mother walked around her desk and headed towards the door in which Betty followed her out.

"Good girl," Alice praised her daughter as she began to turn away. "Since you can't see me because of your job, or whatever it is, you should stop by my office to see me tomorrow before your classes."

"I will try," Betty told her as she turned around to walk in the direction of her class, but turned around to look at her mother again when she heard her name called. "Yes?"

"I was just going to say...since you are going into the field of journalism," Alice said slowly. "You should join the school newspaper," Alice explained. Betty looked at her mother, something in her voice making her slightly suspicious.

"Why do you want to me to join the newspaper, Mom?" Betty asked her. Alice shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, there is an opening for a reporter and I think it will be good for you. Also, the newspaper could use someone with your experience," Alice explained lightly. Betty bit her lip as she stared at her mother, wondering what she was up to.

"I will have to think about it Mom," Betty replied back. "I don't want to take on too much too fast until I get an idea of what these classes are like."

"Smart thinking," Alice said, expressing her approval. " Let me know so I can get you set up if you do decide to. You can tell me your decision tomorrow when you stop by."

"I will need a little bit more time than that, Mom," Betty replied. She needed to figure out how she would fit everything together so her life would run smoothly.

"Think about it," Alice called to her daughter's retreating back.

"Bye Mom," Betty tossed over her shoulder as she rounded the corner, completely disappearing from her mother's eyesight.

She caught sight of students piling into a classroom before her, causing her to groan at the fact she had probably lost the best seat. Betty came to a stop while waiting for a break in line before walking into the classroom. Spotting an empty chair in the front, she walked over, taking a seat. She placed her backpack on the floor, pulling out her things.

The classroom was buzzing with chatter, but Betty didn't feel the draw to join in on the conversation, so she reached into her pocket to pull her phone out to see if she had any messages. There were no messages or missed calls. Betty took that as a sign that Ellie was doing well. She moved her thumb around the screen, scrolling for her email. She saw that she had an email from her boss, Trish. So, Betty opened it to see what she had to say.

Hey, Girlie!

I am just checking to see if you are doing okay. I haven't received your article yet, so I was getting a little worried because you usually have it way before the deadline. If you need an extension on it let me know because I know you were moving for school and may need some time to get settled with Ellie and everything. Just let me know! Love ya!

Trish

Betty was about to reply when her teacher decided to stroll on into the room, announcing the start of class with a very cheery and excited greeting.

"Good Morning everyone!" He said as he closed the door behind him. He made his way over to the desk hopping up to sit, as he turned to the class. When the class said nothing back, he looked around the room, staring at each student before his shoulders sagged dramatically. It immediately reminded her of Kevin. She found herself smiling at the thought of her friend. "Are you all really going to sit there and say nothing back?" He asked them and when nobody responded he got off the desk. "Have it your way," He tutted at them slowly, pacing in front of the desk.

"First things first, my name is Professor Jack Birmingham and since you can't seem to give a decent response, how about we get those brain waves of yours flowing, shall we? We are going to play a game. I am going to say a quote and I want you to tell me who said it, and even if you are not the one answering the question, I would suggest writing them down because there may or may not be a quiz on these quotes. Also, I want everyone to close your laptops because no one is allowed to look up the answers for these, not even on your phone, unless in need of clarification. Ready?" Birmingham asked the room and sighed when no one answered, yet again. "Also, if you want to pass my class, you are going to have to speak up and participate, or you will count as 5 percent of your grade. Now, are we ready to begin?" He asked again. This time was answered with a wave of yeses from various students around the room.

"Well, that is an improvement. Alright. First quote: "If there is a book that you want to read, but hasn't been written yet, you must be the one to write it. " Who said it?" Birmingham asked as he looked around the room. Betty followed his eyesight as he shook his head. No one came forth with the answer, so she raised her hand up and he immediately pointed to her. "What is your answer?"

"Toni Morrison," Betty answered quickly. Birmingham nodded.

"Correct," Birmingham praised her as he walked over to the spot in front of her seat. "And who is Toni Morrison?" He asked.

"Toni Morrison is an American novelist who has won the Pulitzer Prize and American Book award for her book Beloved in 1988. She was also awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993." Betty said automatically.

"And you are?" Birmingham asked, very impressed.

"My name is Elizabeth Cooper," Betty replied simply.

"Thank you and very nicely done, Ms. Cooper," Birmingham said. "Quote something from Beloved, will you?" He requested as he walked back to lean up against the desk.

"Something that is loved is never lost," Betty quoted easily. She knew the book by heart. Birmingham grinned.

"Great choice," Birmingham praised warmly, before moving on to another quote. The rest of the hour ran much more smoothly with more students joining in on the discussion. By the end of the class, Betty had written down fifteen quotes, with three that she had to look up since she didn't know who had said them. She also left with a two-page writing assignment about herself and two chapters to read. As she left the classroom, she noted that she had about an hour before she was due to pick Ellie up, so she went in the direction of the library she had spotted earlier. As she placed her hand on the doorknob to go inside, she heard her phone from inside her pocket. Betty reached inside pulling the phone out. When she saw it was Ronnie, she answered.

"Hey," She greeted, pulling away from the door before making her way outside.

"So, how did your first class go?" Ronnie asked, her warm voice floating through the phone.

"It was a lot of fun," Betty gushed, pulling her bag off as sat down on a free bench. "I was able to answer a few questions, which seemed to impress the teacher, so I think I'm off to a good start."

"That is amazing, B!" Ronnie said. Betty could feel her beaming smile. "You are going to do really well there."

"Don't get your hopes up yet. It is only my first day," Betty reminded her. "I still have two classes tomorrow. Ohhh… You will never guess who I ran into today." Betty sighed as she reached to scratch the back of her head.

"Well, don't hold out on me," Ronnie told her immediately. "Who?" She asked her voice itching with curiosity.

Betty waited a moment before replying. "Wesley." She sighed as she sank back into the bench, love the relaxing feeling of the wind on her cheeks.

"Wesley?" Ronnie recalled. "Wesley who?" She asked as Betty let out a light chuckle before she heard her gasp. "Wait… Wesley..." Ronnie trailed off slowly sounding as she was thinking. "The one the that almost had you crying in tears on the last date because you were so bored?" She asked.

"That would be the one," Betty sighed causing Ronnie to burst into snorts of laughter. "I figured you would think it was funny."

"I guess you must be really dumb to be let into that school," Ronnie breathed as her laughter died down.

"Do you think that about me?" Betty asked her, and Ronnie was quick to correct her.

"Of course not, B!" Ronnie told her. "You know that I think that you are completely brilliant as I have told you time and time again!. It's just, I didn't think he was smart enough for a school such as Vassar. Did he speak to you?"

"Unfortunately," Betty answered, but she didn't feel an ounce of dread. "But I don't think I have to worry about him approaching me for a date. He has a girlfriend." Betty explained.

"Good for you and poor girl," Ronnie said sympathetically.

"I don't know about poor girl. They seem like a perfect match for each other," Betty informed her.

"Wait you met her?"

"Oh, I did!" Betty replied excitedly, knowing that Ronnie was loving the juicy details. "They go here together," Betty added.

"What's she like?" Ronnie asked. "Just out of curiosity…"

"To be honest, her name is Jenna and she seemed bitchy and overly possessive," Betty answered as she thought about their interaction. "She already claimed her stake on him by telling me that he was hers."

"Yup...She's a bitch," Ronnie summarized. "I wish I could have heard your answer."

"It was along the lines of 'you can have him'," Betty said, and Ronnie cheered through the phone.

"That's my girl!" Ronnie said proudly. "What do you have next?"

"Nothing. This is my only class on Mondays and Wednesdays so I'm going to try to work on my article for Trish before I have to pick up Ellie in a bit." Betty looked to her left as she heard an eruption of loud laughter to see a group of guys exiting the building.

"Oh, my Ellie. I miss her so much!" Ronnie murmured. "How is she doing?"

"Ellie is fine, and she misses you too and so do I," Betty confessed. "Its so weird being without you guys. I am so not used to the quiet."

"Tell me about it. I missed our weekly Netflix movie marathon yesterday and I miss my baby kisses," Ronnie sighed. "Who knew one baby could be so addicting!"

"That would be my kiddo," Betty laughed as she thought back to her talk with her mother. "So, I talked to my mom this morning."

"You did?" Ronnie asked, sounding surprised. "Are you okay? How did it go?" She asked worriedly.

"A lot better than I expected it too," Betty admitted. "She hugged me, so I take that as a good sign. She didn't yell at me." She said in a low voice.

"What's the matter B?" Ronnie asked knowingly.

"I think I really hurt my Mom," Betty replied tearfully. "I mean she didn't say it, but I could see it."

"Well, that is because you did Betty. You hurt a lot of people by leaving the way you did. You and I both know where I stand on that and I forgave you, but there is nothing you can do that'll change the past. The only thing you can do is to move forward. Take this day as a small win because, in all honesty, it was," Ronnie said wisely. "Did you tell her about Ellie?"

"I didn't have the time," Betty admitted. "I saw her right before I had class, but I will. She said she wants to see me at least once a week and she asked me to join the school newspaper." Betty dropped her head into her hand. She didn't know how she felt about that yet.

"It is right up your alley," Ronnie encouraged.

"I know, but I don't know if it's a good idea," Betty confided. "I think I'll make my decision after my classes tomorrow because I have no idea what they are going to be like. Plus, one of them is with her. So, I don't know what I'm going to do." Betty sighed.

"Well, I have faith in you and I know you'll figure it out. Just remember to be careful, Betty," Ronnie reminded her. "You don't want to get yourself too stressed."

"I know. I know," Betty tutted and winced as she felt the familiar ache in her chest that meant she was going to have pump soon or risk a mess. "Look, I have to get going. We totally need to set up a time and meet up."

"I agree. I'll check my work schedule and I will get back to you on potential dates," Ronnie offered. "Talk to you soon. Love you and give Ellie a kiss from me."

"Love you too and I will." Betty sent a kiss sound through the phone and ended the call. She grinned as she looked at her phone screen, the photo she had of Kevin and Ronnie holding Ellie serving as her background. Betty gathered up her bag and headed in the direction of her apartment. She'd had enough time away from her baby girl for the day.

-

-

-

 

Betty walked inside the daycare center, wearing an excited grin on her face, ready to see Ellie. Leigh looked up from working on a laptop and got up to meet her with a warm smile.

"How did it go today?" Leigh asked, and Betty nodded.

"It went great today," Betty said as she looked around the room looking for Ellie. "Where is she?" She asked her not spotting the baby in question.

"Come with me," Leigh told her, placing an arm around her shoulders, guiding her to a door in which she opened. Ushering Betty through and over to a crib, she saw Ellie laying on the mattress, fast asleep. "I just put her down about ten minutes ago," Leigh told her as Betty grinned down at the precious sight before her.

"Aww, I hate that I have to disturb her," Betty sighed, and Leigh looked up at her.

"You can leave her here while she sleeps if you would like? and I can call you when she wakes up," Leigh offered. Betty looked at her.

"I do have something for work that I need to get done," Betty said to Leigh as she reached down to caress Ellie's cheek. "Do you think I could do it here? I have everything in my car and I promise I won't be a bother."

"You are not a bother," Leigh said to her sternly. "That will be fine and in the future, if you ever need anyone to watch Ellie, so you can study or run errands, I will be happy to help you. Whatever you need, I am here for you."

"Thank you, Leigh," Betty said softly, feeling completely touched by the lady before her. "That means a lot." Betty followed Leigh out as another daycare worker called for her help. Betty hurried to her car, so she could get her bag and settled down the table where Leigh was sitting moments before, pulling her computer out and opening the lid. While she was waiting for it to boot up, she reached into the cooler department to pull out a bag of celery sticks and a cup of peanut butter as her stomach was begging for something to eat. Leigh placed a cup of hot steaming coffee next to her that smelled heavenly.

"You don't have to-" Betty began but Leigh cut in with.

"Two sugars and two dashes of cream, right?" Leigh asked with a smile as she walked back to her place and sat down.

"Right," Betty said as she brought the cup up to her nose, allowing herself the small pleasure of smelling the delicious cup of coffee, which was met by the scent of vanilla and hazelnuts. It made her mouth water as she blew into the cup, counting down to the seconds before she took her first sip. She loved the way the bitterly sweet drink flowed on her tongue as the heat sank into her mouth and down to every inch and cell of her body, giving it the revival it needed.

"This has to be the best cup of coffee," Betty moaned as she took another sip from the cup. Not because she wanted to, but because she needed too, as she typed her password into the computer.

"Thank you, but I have to say it is nothing like Starbucks," Leigh said, waving her hand at her.

"This is way better than Starbucks if you ask me," Betty told her as she got to work. She began researching the topic that she needed for her article. By the time Ellie woke up from her nap, Betty was nearing the end of her article with only the conclusion left to write. Feeling satisfied with her work, she clicked on the save button as Leigh entered the room with Ellie in her arms.

"Look who's here, Ellie," Leigh cooed softly into the baby's ear as Betty looked up with a beaming smile. Quickly, she closed her laptop before getting out of her seat to go over to Leigh, who was rubbing Ellie's back and Betty couldn't stop her arms from reaching out for her baby girl. Ellie's face lit up at the sight of her. Betty had to swallow against tears as she would never get used to the overwhelming love that consumed her every time Ellie would smile her way as Leigh passed Ellie into her awaiting arms.

"Hi baby," Betty said softly into Ellie's dark, baby-fine hair. She held her daughter's body close to her heart. "I missed you today. Did you have fun?" Betty asked pulling back to look into Ellie's blue eyes.

"We had such a blast today," Leigh told her as she watched the loving scene before her. It warmed her heart. Leigh had seen many parents dote on their kids after being away from them for hours at a time, but the way Betty interacted with Ellie was something special. "We played, we ate, and we slept some," Leigh answered as Betty placed a kiss to Ellie's forehead.

"I talked to your Aunt Ronnie today," Betty said to Ellie in a silly voice. "She says that she misses you and I told her that we missed her, too." Ellie let out a cute giggle as Betty continued to talk to her before turning to Leigh. "Thank you for everything you have done for me today," She said to Leigh as she shifted Ellie to hip. "I finally feel like that we are in the place where we belong, and it finally feels right, or I least hope it is."

"If it feels that way then that means it is," Leigh stated. "You are going to do great things here, Betty. I mean this when I say it, Ellie is lucky to have you as a mother."

"You really think so?" Betty asked her in a soft voice. There were times that she had wondered if she was doing the best for Ellie because that is all Ellie deserved, the best.

"Yes, I really think so. I think it is clear to everyone how much you love Ellie and it is refreshing to see," Leigh added. Betty gave her a watery smile. "Here let me get Ellie in her seat for you while you gather your things."

"Thank you," Betty said handing Ellie to Leigh, who took the little girl, smiling brightly at her as she walked into the nook where they kept the car seats. Betty quickly placed her laptop into her bag along with its cord and threw away trash she made. Leigh carried the car seat, filled with a fussing Ellie, to the table causing Betty to laugh.

"It's only for a few minutes," Betty told her as she shook her head as Ellie kicked her tiny legs in protest.

"Do you need help?" Leigh asked, pointing to the door and Betty shook her head.

"I can handle it," Betty said, giving her a grateful smile. "I will see you tomorrow around the same time? Is that okay for me to drop her off then?"

"That's fine," Leigh answered with a nod. Betty looped her arm through the car seat handle and Leigh bent down to look at Ellie who was still kicking her legs. "I will see you tomorrow," She said in a silly voice, causing Ellie to break into a smile as Betty turned around to walk to the door, giving Leigh one last goodbye. The rest of the day went along smoothly without any hiccup and before Betty realized it, she was putting Ellie to bed and turning out her own lamp as her head hit her pillow.

Betty yawned as she walked into the English building the following morning after her alarm came way too fast for her taste. She had already dropped Ellie off at Leigh's which gave her a little time before her Law class, so she decided to get herself a cup of coffee before going to the library to finish her article and look over the chapter of her law textbook. She thanked the lucky stars that there was no one in line at the coffee cart as she came to a stop but groaned as she saw it was David from yesterday who was the waiting hand.

"I told you that you would be seeing me soon," He grinned at her causing her to roll her eyes.

"You are way too chipper this morning, but I guess it is a step up from your mood yesterday," Betty snarked. "Can I just get a medium coffee?" She asked her tone softening.

"Elizabeth are you sure that you are at the right coffee vendor?" David asked silkily. "I took you as a Starbucks girl."

"Don't get me wrong, I love Starbucks, but my pocket doesn't. I can't imagine spending five dollars a cup of coffee every day," Betty confessed. David pursed his lips as he nodded.

"What kind of coffee Elizabeth?" David asked her as he got a medium cup off the stack.

"The house blend," Betty requested. He nodded again as he began to pour the coffee into the cup. "And it's Betty." She told him as he placed a lid on to the cup then handed it toward her.

"What's Betty?" David asked her sounding confused as she took the cup from him.

"Betty's my name," Betty laughed as she pulled the lid off the cup taking two sugar packets and dumping them into the brown liquid before getting two caplets of creamer to pour in it as well.

"I thought your name was Elizabeth," He asked her.

"It is Elizabeth, but when I was younger my older sister had a hard time saying my full name so she ended up saying Betty and it just stuck. The only person that ever really calls me by my full name is my mother," Bett told him as she reached into her pocket. "How much do I owe you?" She asked looking up handing him a five-dollar bill.

"It's on the house today," David replied by pushing her hand away. "Take it as an apology for acting like an ass towards you yesterday." He told her.

"Are you sure?" Betty questioned. "Because I really don't mind paying." She offered kindly and David shook his head once again. "What about a tip?" Betty asked curiously looking at the cart smiling as she spotted the tip jar. "Ah! Never mind," Betty tossed at him before sticking the five into the jar before picking up coffee and felt her heart froze when she picked up the sound of her mother's voice flowing through the air behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see Alice Cooper standing near the entrance of the door to the library and remembered that her mother wanted to see her before class started and cringed when she noticed her mother's eyes glance her way. Betty cursed to herself as she knew that she had been spotted remembering that her mother had wanted to see her before class started, but Betty really needed to finish her article, so she turned to look to David who was watching her curiously.

"Is there any other way into the library?" Betty asked him quietly and he nodded as he pointed to the door behind him. "And if that woman asks you where I went. Lie to her."

"You want me to lie to Alice Cooper?" David asked raising an eyebrow.

"Please and I will give you another five for your help," Betty pleaded with wide eyes and he nodded. "Thank you," She rushed as she picked up her coffee walking around the cart to the door hurrying inside to what appeared to be a very large library which seemed easy enough to get lost in. She felt her jaw drop as she walked further into the library as her eyes landed on the very large staircase that went up two floors and saw that there was another door on the second level, at the same location as the one she just entered which she could use to get to her law class later.

Betty walked past several rows of shelves before she found an area with tables. Most of them were filled to brim with students but there was hope as she spotted an empty table in the corner that seemed perfect for her and it was away from the others, so she would have fewer distractions. She took a sip of her coffee noting its deliciousness as she walked down the path towards the table she heard an annoying voice that could only belong to one person. Betty heard that voice say her name making her stop and look to her left to see she stopped right next to the table where Wesley was sitting with Jenna across from him with a few other people including the curly haired girl who was in her campus circle yesterday.

"Elizabeth what are you doing here?" He asked slowly looking around the table with a nervous look. Betty turned to him raising an eyebrow at him.

"Are you seriously asking me that question?" She asked him, pulling her eyes away from Wesley to look at the others at the table. "Hi everyone," She said politely ignoring the death stare Jenna was sending her way as she turned her eyes back to Wesley who only nodded.

Betty took a deep breath as she looked at Wesley as she thought of the perfect answer. Betty looked around the library before turning back to Wesley not knowing what to say because she was stupefied by his insane question. "Why does anyone come into a library, Wesley?" She finally asked him as she pushed out all the insults she wanted to throw his way.

"Are you sure this place is even for you?" The curly haired girl piped her way causing Betty to look at her. "Maybe there is a place that is much better suited for you or that is much more your style?"

Betty narrowed her eyes at the girl as she crossed her arms being careful not to drop her coffee feeling quite irritated at the girl's uncalled for tone. "What the fuck does that mean?" She asked her in an even voice. "A place much more suited for me?" She added to the question before shrugging her shoulder. "Since you apparently know me so well, tell me where this place is?" She urged the girl who just stared at her as she had lost her mind, so Betty decided to be the bigger person.

"You know what I am not going to do this, so you just keep your answer because I really don't want to hear it," Betty tossed to the girl in a much calmer voice. "Now, I am going to go because I didn't come here to bother you. I came here to study and that is what I am going to do." She added looking to each person at the table opening her mouth to say goodbye to them when she heard.

"Betty Cooper…"

Betty snapped her jaw shut as the new voice sliced through her being. She felt her eyes widen as the breath in her lungs ceased to exist as she knew that that voice could only belong to one person because she knew that voice all too well. The voice that she heard in her dreams and the voice that she had missed so much over the last year. The voice she yearned to hear just one last time. The voice who belonged to the person that meant everything to her still even after a year and the voice of her child's father. She almost didn't want to believe it and she almost did not until she slowly turned her head to see him standing only a few feet away from her. She closed her eyes and Betty felt her heart begin to pound as she slowly opened her eyes to make sure that she was not dreaming. And yes, he was still standing in front of her with that beloved crown beanie resting on a bed of soft dark curls. The feel of those dark soft curls came rushing back to her as their feel was forever ingrained into her memory. Betty felt her throat dry up as she raises her gaze to his widen dark blue eyes that were surely mirroring her own widen eyes. Those dark blue eyes also mirrored the same dark blue eyes that she had been putting to bed for the last three months. Betty placed her hand onto the table beside her to keep herself from falling to the floor. She struggled to find the words she wanted to say but she could only say one.

"Jughead."


	5. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your kudos and comments. Thank you for reading!

Chapter Four

 

“Jughead.”

 

Betty’s ears started ringing at the name she had just spoken. She tried to get her mind to form a coherent sentence but it seemed to have stopped working. She shook her head telling herself to get it together. Jughead took that moment to take a few more steps and then he was standing right in front of her. In fact, he was standing so close to her that she could smell that clean scent of his that was so Jughead. That scent that reminded her of the nights that she would stay over at his house or her house. Betty would lay her head on his chest listening to him talk about whatever and that scent would be there lulling her to sleep. It also reminded her of the times where she was on the back of his motorbike. She would snuggle into the side of his neck where his scent would overload her senses making her mouth water. It was one reason she could never keep her hands off of him. It almost made her want to jump him right here in the library.

 

“Are you okay?” Jughead asked her, his voice invading her thoughts bring her back from memory lane.

 

“I’m fine,” Betty answered unable to keep a smile off her face as she picked up that gentle concerned voice of his. The voice he only had for her. “You look good,” Betty told him softly loving the way his cheeks colored at her compliments. But boy, did she mean it. - Jughead was slightly taller than when she saw him last. His chest has broadened which she could see through his shirt, which had an S on it, as he pulled on the strap of his messenger bag. Betty smiled as she saw grey suspenders handing down from his waist and she loved the way we wore his tight light gray jeans that tightened around his ass just right. Betty cleared her throat as the sight of him made her feel like she needed to fan herself.

 

“Thanks,” He shifted on his feet shyly.

 

“How have you been?” Betty asked him wanting to keep the conversation going. “How’s life treating you?”

 

“It’s been pretty good,” Jughead shrugged. “Though I think it just got better,” He added sending her a soft smile. “What about you?” He asked her.

 

“It’s been alright,” Betty answered as she looked down at her bookbag. “I came here to study,” She confessed.

 

“So, you finally made it to Vassar,” Jughead grinned proudly. “I always knew you could do it. Let me guess… Mass Communications?” He questioned narrowing his eyes at her.

 

“It’s always been the plan Jug,” Betty answered and she watched as his eyes softened when she said the name Jug.  “How’s your dad?” She asked.

 

“He’s great. He is currently in charge of the diner while Pop is busy taking care of his mom,” Jughead answered. “He misses you. I swear if he could he would trade children to have you.”

 

“Oh stop. He loves you,” Betty brushed him off. “What is going on with Mama Tate?” She asked.

 

“She is in the early stage of dementia,” Jughead answered causing Betty’s heart to drop. “So, Pop is having to take off so he can take her to appointments and stuff.”

 

“That is so sad,” Betty sighed. “She is one of the sweetest ladies in Riverdale. I have a lot of memories of her at Pops. I think she was there the first time I ever went to the diner. She gave me a free milkshake with extra sprinkles because my mom had taken me to the dentist.”

 

“I think she has given everyone free milkshakes,” Jughead chuckled. “So what do think of Vassar so far?”

 

“I have only been here for a couple of days,” Betty admitted thinking of her answer. “And so far, I am finding that people here are assholes.”

 

Jughead’s carefree face quickly turned into a concerned look at her response. He wanted to ask what she had meant but the sound of someone clearing their throat caused the two them to glance at the table beside them where Wesley and his group had been watching the exchange between the two.

 

“I was wondering when you were going to join us, Jug-head,” Wesley said looking from Betty to Jughead. “We have been saving a seat for you.”

 

“Yeah,” Jenna piped up in a stern voice. “We waited for you, but you took too long so we started without you.”

 

“Sorry guys,” Jughead told them with no ounce of regret in his voice. He sent Betty a secret look telling her that he didn’t feel any either. Betty covered her mouth as she let out a giggle.

 

“How do you guys know each other?” Betty asked as she moved her hand away from her mouth.

 

“Wesley and I are roommates,” Jughead answered with a pained look in his eyes. “They asked me to come study with them.” He explained to her.

 

“I am so sorry,” Betty told him and Jughead started laughing that met his blue eyes shooting her memory back to Ellie, which caused her stomach to roll violently. As she remembers that they now had a daughter and Jughead didn’t know. Betty knew that she had to tell him, but didn’t know when she should say anything or if she should. What if she told him and it scared him away? For good? Or would he be angry with her? Or what if he was happy? What if he wanted to be apart of Ellie’s life. She felt her chest begin to tighten as she felt herself begin to panic which was not good. She needed to get away from here so she could think.

 

“Well, I must be going,” She said suddenly making Jughead look up at the change of her tone. “I have a lot of work that I need to get done before class.” She explained glancing at Jughead. She could make the concern in his blue eyes as they turned suspiciously as Betty knew he could tell that there was something wrong. As he could always tell when there was something wrong with her even when she tried to hide it from the world or her mother. He just knew.

 

“Wait, if you are going to be studying why don’t you just join us?” Jughead asked her pointing to the table.  Betty smiled at his sweet offer.

 

“Nope nope,” Jenna said suddenly making Jughead and Betty look at her. Jenna sent a narrowed look Wesley’s way shaking her head vigorously. “Our group is full,” She added as she pulled her beady eyes away from Wesley back to them.  

 

Betty sighed as she looked to Jughead sending him a tight smile. “Maybe another time, Jughead. It seems that I have already been spoken for,” She shrugged. Betty started making her way around him, but Jughead put his arm out to stop her. She looked up him confused as he placed a hand on to her arm. It surprised her that one simple touch could warm her to her bones.

 

“Don’t move,” He demanded, pulling his hand from her arm leaving it feeling cold. She narrowed her as at him and Jughead slowly shook his head at her. The look he just gave her reminded her why she loved him so damn much in the first place.

 

Jughead looked to the table. “I’m sorry guys. I am going have to pass on your study group,” he said to them before turning to Betty. “Where are you sitting at Betts?” He asked her simply and Betty gave him a beaming smile when she heard Wesley speak up.

 

“Jug-head, are you really going to pick her over us?” Wesley asked him.”How do you even know each other?” Betty glanced up at Jughead gave her one of those soft heart-stopping smiles that were only meant for her. She also saw the hesitance in his eyes which told her a different story. Betty knew Jughead well enough to know that he would only give out the details about his life to certain people. Betty turned to Wesley.

 

“That is only for me and Jughead to know,” Betty told him with a smirk. She looked to see Jughead give her a gentle nod telling her it was okay.

 

“Miss. Cooper, don’t forget about our meeting this morning.”

 

Betty visibly cringed at the sound of her mother’s voice ringing through the air. She bit her lip as she looked up at Jughead who wore an amused smiled. “Please tell me she is not standing behind me,” She whispered to him.

 

“I would but then that would be a lie,” Jughead whispered back with his eyebrows raised.

 

“Fuck!” Betty mouthed.

 

“Miss Cooper?”

 

Betty turned around to see her mother standing behind her with her arms cross. “I will be right there,” Betty told her with an embarrassed smile.

 

“I just wanted to make sure that you didn’t forget,” Alice said with a raised eyebrow. “Now, come along,” She urged beckoning with her head to follow her.

 

Betty only responded by giving her a thumbs up. Feeling pleased, Alice left the library to returned to her office. Betty shook her head as she turned around to look at Jughead. “I think I will have to take a raincheck Jug,” Betty sighed.

 

“You were trying to hide from her weren’t you?” Jughead asked knowingly with a smirk.

 

“I was trying and I failed miserably,” Betty huffed dramatically. “Maybe we can study another time?” She asked sounding hopeful.

 

“I can go with you if you want to,” Jughead offered.

 

‘Thank you, but I need to do this myself. I will see you later?” Betty asked him and Jughead nodded. “Or call?”

 

“I would like that,” Jughead said smiling gently at her.

 

“Well, I better go before she comes back in here and we wouldn’t want that,” Betty said pointing over her shoulder.

 

“No we wouldn’t,” Jughead said as he reached for his phone in his pocket. “You’ll have to give me your number because I had to get a new phone.” He explained as he handed her the phone.

 

“Did it finally die on you?” Betty laughed, taking the phone and entered her number and handed it back to him.

 

“Hey, this number is the same number,” Jughead said as he read the digits.

 

“Yup,” Betty nodded. “You know that I am not good at remembering numbers.” She explained and she was taken away once again by the blueness of his eyes and his eyes made her think of Ellie. The thought of her or their little girl made her stomach hurt because she knew that she was going to have to tell him the truth about her. He deserved to know. He deserved to know the beautiful life that their love had created. She fell completely in love the moment Ellie was born he also deserved that moment and Ellie deserved to know the wonderful man that was her father.

 

She swallowed. “Jughead, we need to talk,” Betty told him seriously and Jughead looked at her. She could feel the sweep of his eyes on her face as he studied her.

 

“Okay,” Jughead nodded. “I have class in a little bit, maybe we can meet up then?” He suggested.

 

“I have two classes later too. It’s okay. We’ll figure it out,” Betty waved it off.

 

“We always do,” Jughead promised her.

 

“It was really good seeing you, Juggie,” She said softly. Betty turned around walking out of the library in the direction of her mother’s office. She was almost there when she felt her phone vibrate. Betty pulled her phone out to see she had a new message from a number she didn’t recognize. It’s said:

 

 _You too._    

 

Betty smiled as she realized that it was Jughead. She quickly saved the number to her contacts adding the name Juggie as she did so. For the first time in a year, it felt as if her heart had come alive as it pounded away in her chest causing that hallowed feeling to slowly melted away the hole that only Jughead could fill.

 

-

-

-

 

“You couldn’t have told me he was here?” Betty screeched the moment she stepped foot inside her mother’s office.

 

“Who honey?” Alice asked innocently looking up from the papers that she was grading.

 

“Don’t play dumb with me Mom,” Betty snapped. “Jughead!”

 

“I tried to yesterday,” Alice tried to reason. “But I couldn’t get the word to come out.”

 

“Sure you did,” Betty said coldly. “Is this your way of revenge on me for hurting you?” She asked as she crossed her arms.

 

“Not at all,” Alice said shaking her head. “I just didn’t know how to tell you is all.”

 

“You could have easily said: Oh, by the way, Jughead is going to school here,” Betty told her shrugging.

 

“Well, to be honest, I didn’t know if you deserved to know that he was here or not,” Alice snarked back.

 

“What do you mean by that?” Betty asked her,

 

“I am not the only one who you hurt by leaving Betty,” Alice answered. “Jughead was one of them. He told me about what happened between you too.”

 

“He did?” Betty squeaked feeling the blood drain from her face. “What did he tell you?” She questioned worriedly. Did he tell her mom about the pregnancy? She thought to herself.    

 

“All Jughead told me was that he said some stupid things and he wanted to make it right between the two of you,” Alice explained. “He seemed pretty heartbroken to find you gone.”

 

Betty felt a huge wave of relief wash over her, but also immense guilt as she listened to her mother’s words. “That is all he told you?” Betty asked as she covered her mouth with her hand. Her mind was going a mile of minutes as she tried to process everything.

 

“I could tell that there was more, but I was hoping that you would fill in the blanks,” Alice said. She placed her red pen down and pulled her reading glasses off her face. “What happened that night Betty?” She asked concerned.

 

“We broke up,” Betty answered, she began to pace as she pulled on the end of her ponytail. “We broke up because I was leaving for school and he had received some very bad news and said that he loved me too much to hold me back that he had to set me free,” Betty said as she thought back to the night her heart broke into a million pieces. She will never forget the pain she felt as she walked into her house after she had left the park. “

 

“That doesn’t make any sense, Betty,” Alice tutted as she crossed her arms. “I am sure there is more to the story.”

 

“Well, I am sorry to tell you, but that is the whole truth,” Betty looked her mom with wide eyes. “We broke up and I thought… I thought…” Betty stuttered as she felt her chest tighten as the walls of the room closed around her as her mother’s words sounded in her head over and over. He wanted to make it right

“I have to get out of here,” Betty said thickly, as she rushed out of her mother’s office without another glance back.

 

Betty hurried out of the English building only stopping to collapse on a bench. She placed a hand on her chest as she struggled to catch her breath as sobs came pouring out of her throat. She covered her mouth with her other hand to catch her sobs so she wouldn’t draw any attention to herself. That was the last thing she needed. She felt the heat of her tears as they rolled down her cheeks. She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down but nothing was working. The pain was rushing through her too fiercely for her to form any coherent thought, which was fine because she didn’t want to be thinking about what her mother had just unleashed on her. Everything that she thought she had buried was brought to the surface and the thought that everything could have been different gripped around her heart. Wiping away the tears from her cheek, she reached in for her phone. She sobbed as she scrolled through her phone finding the person that she needed and quickly punched Kevin’s name.

 

As she listened to the ringing, Betty forced herself to take a deep breath trying to clear the tightness of her chest as she heard the click followed by Kevin’s voice.

 

“Betty!” Kevin said in a sing-song voice. “I was just thinking about you, Babe!”

 

“Kevin,” She said hoarsely as her voice was thickened by her tears.

 

“Betty, what’s wrong?” Kevin asked, his cheerful tone turning to concern. Betty broke down in sobs as she tried to utter the words.

 

“He’s here,” Betty croaked painfully.

 

“Who?”

 

“Jughead,” Betty replied through her tears. “Jughead’s here.”

 

“What?” Kevin gaped at the unexpected name. “Did you just say Jughead is there?”

 

“Yes,” Betty answered as she wiped at more tears. “Oh my God, Kevin what do I do?” She rushed as the tightness in her chest began to feel painful.

 

“First thing, you need to breathe, Baby,” Kevin coached her. “You need to breathe and calm down.” He told her. “Come on do it with me. Deep breath,” He ordered and Betty giggled at the sound of him taking in that deep breath. “This is no time for giggles. Deep breath said. Now close your eyes.”

 

Betty did as she said as Kevin began to walk her through in a very calm and soothing voice. After a few moments, Betty felt the gripping pain in her chest lessen with each breath and soon she was able to take in a deep breath.

 

“That’s it,” Kevin said softly. “How do you feel?”

 

“I honestly don’t know how I feel,” Betty said taking another deep breath hoping that pressure in her chest would ease up a little more. “What the fuck do I do Kevin?” She asked him in a much calmer voice.

 

“Hold up, how do you know he is even there?” Kevin asked her.

 

“I spoke to him,” Betty answered and she heard the sound of glass breaking in the background. “Did you just drop another cup?” She asked with a smile.

 

“Nope! Not at all,” Kevin quickly denied and cleared his throat. “You talked to him?”

 

“For about five minutes,” Betty gushed, she placed a hand on her head as she all she could think about was what her mother said. “In the library of all places when I was trying to hide from my mother.”

 

“Sounds like you had an eventful couple of days,” Kevin sighed.

 

“You have no idea,” Betty tutted as she swallowed back another round of tears that were threatening to let loose. “I have no idea what to do,” She said in a small voice.

 

“You will figure it out, Betty,” Kevin encouraged her. “It is all going to be okay. So you talked to Jughead. What was it like?” He asked her.

 

“It felt so good to talk to him,” Betty confessed softly. “I can’t even describe it. I really missed him, Kevin.”

 

“I know you have,” Kevin murmured. “What did you talk about?” He asked.

 

“Nothing really interesting,” Betty said, laughing as she heard Kevin let out a sigh.

 

“Oh come on! You have to give me something,” Kevin cried.

 

“I asked him about his dad and I told him that I was going to school here. He guessed my major and he told me that he knew that I would always get here,” Betty confessed smiling as she thought about moments that now seemed so magical to her.

 

“Now that is what I am talking about,” Kevin said. “So, what’s the problem?” He questioned.

Betty literally glared into the phone. “Are you really asking me that?” She asked incredulously. “How about the facts that I didn’t have the abortion?”

 

“Ohhhh… Right… That…” Kevin trailed off. “You’re screwed!”

 

“Kevin!” Betty cried into the phone. “And then my mom told me that he came to the house the day after wanting to fix things between us.”

 

“Are you sure your mom is not playing a guilt trip on you?” Kevin asked her. “She is famous for them.”

 

“I didn’t get that feeling,” Betty admitted. “It would be something that Jughead would do.” She sighed. “My mind is so totally screwed up right now. What do I do Kevin?” She asked him.

 

“I think you know what you need to do,” Kevin told her seriously. “You have to tell him the truth about Ellie.”

 

“I know I do,” Betty said feeling completely exhausted from her panic attack moments before. ‘I already told him that we needed to talk.”

 

“When is this talk supposed to take place?” Kevin inquired.

 

“I have no clue, but I gave him my phone number,” Betty muttered. “So, we will see.”

 

“Do you need me to drive up there?” Kevin asked, worriedly. “Because I can leave early enough.”

 

“No,” Betty shook her head. “I will be fine. It was just all unexpected.”

 

“How about you just go and get yourself some Ellie snuggles?” Kevin suggested, lightly.

 

“I wish I could,” Betty groaned. “I have class in a bit, so Ellie snuggles will have to wait.” She sighed as all she really wanted to was pluck Ellie from the daycare and run for the hills. But she wasn’t going to that.

 

“Are you sure that you are going to be okay?”

 

“I told you that I am fine,” Betty smiled. “I am much better now that I talked you. Maybe this is a good thing. You always said that everything happens for a reason, right?”

 

“Right,” Kevin chimed. “Betty, I am going to have to go. My boss is pulling into a meeting.” He added suddenly and Betty could hear someone talking to him in the background.

 

“Okay. Good luck in your meeting,” Betty told him.

 

“We are not through talking about this,” Kevin declared to her. “I will call you later tonight,” He promised.

 

“I can’t wait,” Betty said, pulling the phone from her ear ending the call. Betty looked at the time on her phone and her class started in fifteen minutes. Betty wiped at her cheek harshly trying to hide any evidence of her tears or recent panic attack. She didn’t need anyone to question her sanity. So much for getting my article done, she thought herself as she stood up from the bench heading back into the English building.

 

After Betty reached the second floor by going up the stairs, mainly to avoid her mother since her office was right next to the elevators, she found her law classroom without any problem or what she hoped it to be. She found the room, which was much larger then the classroom her writing class was in, empty.

 

“Can I help you?”

 

Betty looked to her left to see a man, with soft graying hair standing in front of a whiteboard he was writing on, looking at her through thin-framed spectacles.

 

“I am looking for the Laws of the Press class,” She replied.

 

“You have come to the right place,” He replied with a warm smile. “You are early. So, please choose any seat that you would like,” He added gesturing to the empty seats with his hand.

 

“Thank you,” Betty said politely. She went up a group of stairs half way before turning down an aisle sitting in a chair in the middle. She looked around smiling at her lucky seat. She could see the teacher and the board perfectly. Since there were a few minutes before class, Betty pulled out her laptop hoping to work on the ending of her article.

 

Betty was clicking away on her keys when a line of students began piling into the room. She was way to engross in her work to look up. She typed out her final word as two people took the seats on either side of her. A wave of happiness and relief filled her as she clicked the save button now that her assignment was complete. But that happiness was quickly squashed as she saw the three stooges, Wesley, Jenna, and Sidney, from the library walk into the room. All three of them were in a deep conversation. She sat completely quiet as she watched them walk up the stairs and turn into the row before hers. Then to her dismay sat in three chairs right in front of her. She watched as Wesley turned around to get something out his back and literally had to fight back her laughter as his eyes widen at the sight of her.

 

“What are you doing in here?” He asked her causing Jenna and Sidney to turn around as well.

 

“Class,” She said shaking her head. Betty could not believe how stupid this mother fucker was in front of her. Wesley and his duo turned back around to face the front then suddenly Wesley started motioning his hand at someone and she turned her back to her computer glad that their attention had left her.

 

“We saved you a seat,” Wesley told them loudly, breaking her attention once again. She looked up to see Wesley pointing to an empty seat next to Sidney. Something out the corner of her eye pulled Betty’s gaze to the left to see the one and only Jughead Jones making his way down the row and he wasn’t looking at the dweebs in front of her. He was looking at her. She watched as he stopped in front of her.

 

“You couldn’t have saved me a seat?” He asked her jokingly.

 

“Well, if I had known that you were going to be in this class, I would have,” Betty tossed back at him. “If you had been here about five minutes ago, you could have had a seat next to me.” She shrugged.

 

Jughead turned his body blocking the three dweebs, who were watching him closely, out of her sight. “You could have saved me from mortal hell,” He whispered to her tilting his head back and she snorted.

 

“I have saved you from mortal hell many times,” Betty reminded him. “Perhaps this was my day off.” She added with a smirk and Jughead leaned in so close that she could smell his body wash and she couldn't stop herself from taking one selfish whiff. Betty opened her eyes to see him watching her closely...and knowingly.

 

“I will always need you to save me,” Jughead told her knocking the wind out of her lungs once again before he turned away to take the free seat, only to turn around to look at her.

 

“So, have you talked to Archie?” Betty asked curiously. Betty frowned as Jughead’s face darkened at the name.

 

“No,” He said evenly shaking his head. “Things didn’t end well between us the last time I talked to him. He’d been pissing me off.”

 

“What happened?”

 

“I found out that he was cheating on Veronica in Nashville,” Jughead replied and Betty nodded. “You know he went to Nashville right?”

 

“Oh I know and I know about him cheating on Veronica,” Betty confided. “So does Veronica.” She revealed, laughing as Jughead’s eyes widen.

 

“She knows?”

 

“Yep,” Betty nodded. “She found him in a closet drunk off his ass kissing on some blonde on New Year’s Eve.” She told him with a grin. “She was devastated by it. It took her weeks to get out of bed.” She sighed thinking about the memories and how depressed Ronnie had been.

 

“When’s the last time you seen him?” Jughead asked curiously.

 

“Fourth of July last year,” Betty answered and grinned when an idea popped up in her head. She stared at Jughead for a moment before turning to the guy sitting beside her with his nose deep in his book minding his own business. She reached over to tap him on the shoulder and he looked up with an annoyed look in his eyes. But she didn't care. 

 

“Sorry, to bother you,” Betty smiled sweetly. “But would you mind trading seats with him? She asked pointing to Jughead. The guy looked at Jughead and then at her. The moment she saw a flash of hesitance in his eyes and when he opened his mouth to deny her request, Betty cut him off. "I will pay you a 100 dollars if you trade seat with him," She added quickly.

 

“You are offering to pay me 100 bucks to move?” the guy asked, looking at her as if she had lost her mind. “Just to switch seats? Really?” He narrowed his eyes at her in disbelief.

 

“However you want it,” Betty said grinning brightly at the guy. “I will bring with it with me to our next class,” She added crossing her arms. "Just name it." 

 

“How do I know you are not just pulling my leg?” He asked her crossing his arms as well.

 

“Hey," Jughead piped up making the guy look to him. "Trust me when I say, that she always keeps her word,” Jughead added. Betty grinned down at him as Jughead’s look turned hopeful. “Also, just trade the seats with me because she will not give up until you do," Jughead explained looking to Betty who nodded in return.

 

“Fine,” The guy relented as he began to gather his things and got out of the chair.

 

“Thank you,” Betty smiled loving the stunned faces of the dweebs as they watched Jughead get out of the seat. They watched him walk all the way around until he was taking a seat beside her.

 

“Thank you,” Jughead said sounding relieved. “You are a genius and see you saved me again." He smiled at her creating those butterflies in her stomach that made her want to giggle until she was in tears.

 

“I know,” Betty quipped with a smirk. She turned back to her computer biting her lip as she felt her heart do a backflip in her chest. She looked forward to seeing that their audience was still looking at them stunned. Betty forced her attention back to her computer as she could barely control the shaking of her hands as she added her article to an email body to send.

 

“What is that you work on?" Jughead asked curiously leaning closer to get a better look at her screen and Betty shifted her computer a bit. "Interesting," He nodded reading the words displayed in front of him.

 

“It’s just my article. I am a freelance writer for a website in the city and I was just about to submit my assignment for the week," Betty explained to him and Jughead nodded with a proud look in his eye.

 

“I have always told you that you would stun the world with your words,” Jughead leaned forward resting his arms on the table and turned to her. "So, I have a favor that I need to ask you," Jughead started slowly.

 

"Uh oh. This can not be good," Betty sighed dramatically at him. Jughead just rolled his eyes and opened his mouth, but was interrupted before he had a chance to speak his piece.

 

“Hey, Jug-head.”

 

Jughead and Betty turned to see Jenna had turned around in her seat and was looking expectingly at Jughead. “What do you want, Jenna?” Jughead answered, his tone was sour.

 

Jenna shot a grin at him. "Oh, nothing. I just wanted to remind you that I have a close friend that really wants to go out on a date with you. She just said to pick the day and she will make sure she is free for you. I think the two of you will have a great time together." She said. Jughead scowled at the girl in front of him.

 

“Date?” Betty piped up and hated the way her voice sounded so small and squeaky. She cleared her throat hoping to chase it all away.

 

Apparently, Jughead heard it as well. He quickly turned to her shaking his head. His eyes were wide with panic. “There is no date,” He assured her then turned to Jenna. “I told you that I didn’t want you to set me up on any dates.”

 

“It will be good for you,” Jenna sighed. “It will be better than sitting in your room all the time.”

 

“Blind dates are not really my thing,” Jughead hissed at her. “I am guessing that you didn’t hear me when I said that I don’t want to date anyone.”

 

“You are so weird,” Jenna scoffed. “You should consider yourself lucky that I am even considering you to date my friend.”

 

Betty felt her fingers behind to curl in her hands as she listened to Jenna speak and she was going to listen any longer. “Hey!"Betty slapped her hand on to the desk to keep herself from digging her nails into her palm and making both Jughead and Jenna jump. "He is not weird!” Betty snapped her. “If he says that he doesn’t want to date anyone, then you should just respect his decision instead of putting him down. Also, if he had considered to date your friend, she should consider herself the lucky one.” She finished glaring harshly at the brunette.

 

“You talk as if you actually know him,” Jenna scoffed icily crossing her arm and jutting her chin out in a snobby way.

 

“It’s because I do know him,” Betty fired back at her. “I know him better than anyone and I will not sit by and let you talk him down because you are incapable of understanding the word ‘no’.” Betty turned to Jughead. “Now, what was that favor you wanted to ask me?”

 

Jughead was staring at her with pride with a mixture of awe in his eyes. He cleared his throat as a small smile graced his face. “I was going to ask you if you would like to join the Vassar Times?” He asked. “We have an opening for a reporter and I wondered if you would like to have it?" This question was enough to gain the attention of Sidney.

 

“Hold on a second,” Sidney broke in turning around in her chair. “We still have time to find someone. We just need to push harder for people to join. It was like this last year and the reporter we found was great remember."

 

“They were and we got lucky last year. But they graduated. We also need someone who will stick with the paper.  Which is why I am asking Betty here,” Jughead tilting his head in Betty’s direction. "

 

“We would need to see her writing samples,” Sidney argued. “We also need Mrs. Cooper’s approval. You know how picky she is when it comes to the paper. We can’t just have anyone one off the street for it. We need to make sure we are finding the right fit for us.”

 

“I think Betty will be the perfect fit,” Jughead declared firmly. “I have seen her writing many times and I just read something of hers that was recent. She also has experience with a school newspaper which I can vouch for. She worked with me at the Blue and Gold. As for Alice, I don’t think she will mind since-”

 

“Actually, Mrs. Cooper asked me if I would join the paper yesterday,” Betty cut in suddenly. Jughead narrowed his eyes at her. Betty shook her head and held a finger to his lips telling him to stay silent.

 

“She did?” Sidney asked, narrowing her eyes at her. “Because she never said anything about you during the meeting last night. When did she ask you?” It sounded as if Sidney didn't believe a word she said.

 

“It’s probably because I haven’t given her my answer yet," Betty answered simply. "And she asked me in her office yesterday." She added with a shrug and Sidney's jaw dropped open.

 

“You were in her office?” Sidney gaped at her. "What did you do to get in there?" She asked her with wide eyes. "The only time people go in that office if they are in trouble with her."

 

“Yep, I was in there and no I was not in trouble," Betty answered and she through it was comical the way Sidney's shoulder sagged. Like she was waiting on some new juicy details.

 

“Sidney is a big fan of Alice, ”Jughead explained and Betty nodded understanding as she knew her mother had many supporters around the area and some were big fans. But she had never officially met any of them. So this was first for her.

 

“I see,” Betty comment. “So you love Alice Cooper?" Betty asked her and Sidney nodded her head vigorously.

 

“She is everything I dream of becoming,” Sidney gushed dreamily. “The things she had accomplished over the span of her career is amazing and she seems like a strong woman.”

 

 _‘More like crazy,’_ Betty thought to herself.

 

“I also think she should join because she owes me,” Jughead added lightly and Betty turned to him with her eyebrows raised.

 

 "I owe you?" Betty questioned him and Jughead nodded with a smug look on his face. She narrowed her eyes at him. "How so?"

 

“Because when you needed help with the Blue and Gold, you came to me begging for me to join," Jughead reminded her. "I remember that day so clearly too." He added and Betty shook her head at him.

 

“Really?” Betty snickered. “You are going to pull that card?” She tossed at him tilting her head to the side slightly.

 

“Sure am,” Jughead nodded before turning serious. “Please?”

 

“I told my- Mrs. Cooper that I would give her my answer after I figure out the weight load of my classes,”  Betty replied. “So, let just see. Okay? Do I need to speak to the editor?”

 

“You are looking at him,” Jughead smiled proudly. “I do need your help with the layout process. You always made it look so easy.”

 

Before Betty could answer, the teacher up front turned around and started clapping his hands.

 

“Alright, that’s enough talking for now,” He propped his hands on his wide hips. “Now, that I have your attention. We can begin our class. I hope you all have gotten to know each other because the people who are now sitting beside you are your neighbors for the next four months.” He then continued on into his introduction before going over the purpose of the class.

 

“Looks like you are stuck with me for four long months, Jughead Jones,” Betty sighed.

 

“I can live with that,” Jughead said softly. Betty smiled as she looked over as their eyes locked with each other. At that moment, Betty felt everything that she had ever felt for him come rushing back filling up her soul. She knew then that she needed to tell him about Ellie and it needed to be soon. Something told Betty as she looked into his eyes that Jughead had only come back into her life, but this time he was never leaving.

 

“Elizabeth Cooper.”

 

The sound of her name being called broke the moment and she looked to see the teacher looking around the room.

 

“Elizabeth Cooper,” Callahan called again looking up from his book.

 

“That’s me,” Betty raised her hand in the air. The teacher turned to look at her quickly marking something in his book before looking up staring at her.

 

“You’re last name is Cooper, I see,” He asked with a curious look in his eyes. “Is there any relation between you and our very own Alice Cooper?”

 

Betty gulped. Her fingers began to curl up once again and could feel her nails pressing against the flesh of her palm. She hated that she was even filled with the temptation to do the act she tried so hard to stop. Something she succeeded on doing. Betty glanced over to Jughead to see him watching her closely.  Jughead sent her a comforting smile as she watched him slip a hand under the desk beside her. Betty felt her heart begin to pound when she felt him take her hand into his. He gently pried her fingers away from her palm before lacing his fingers through hers. Damn, this boy knew her too well. She then struggled to find her breath for a very different reason, Jughead nodded at her and she felt her confidence surge up inside when she felt him rub thumb softly over her first knuckle. Betty bit her lip to keep a smile from erupting on her face as memories surged from the darkest parts of her mind. Memories of their time together and she remembered that she was currently in class. And she was melting from one soft touch from the boy she loved.

Betty forced her attention away from that boy and back to the teacher who was patiently awaiting her answer. Here goes nothing. "She's my mother," She replied.

 

The moment the words left her lips the entire classroom whipped around to look at her with stunned faces. Betty only responded with a smile and small shrug, because by nightfall every student on campus will know that she is Alice’s Cooper’s daughter.

  
  


           

 


	6. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little insight on Jughead here.

_Jughead_

 

Jughead groaned as he rolled on to his back opening his eyes to look at the very blank ceiling. He had gone to bed a few hours ago, but sleep was trying it’s hardest to evade him. Jughead knew exactly why he was not getting any sleep… Betty Cooper had been consuming his mind all day and followed him into the night. Frustrated, Jughead sat up in the bed scrubbing his face with his hands. He jumped as he heard a loud crash outside his door followed by that annoying dead tone laugh of Wesley. Jughead shook his head as more laughing erupted outside his door. He really needed to get earplugs to save him from his roommate from hell. Thinking of Wesley, he thought back to his time in the library after getting his first sight of Betty in over a year. When he sat down at the table after Betty had left to go talk to her mom, Wesley had proceeded to tell everyone that Betty and he had gone on dates. He then proceeded to tell them that Betty had become obsessed with him thus it led to him breaking things off with her. He also proceeded to tell some other small lies about Betty that made him want to punch the daylights out of Wesley. But he refrained.

 

He knew that almost everything Wesley had said were lies because, unbeknownst to the occupants of the table, Jughead knew Betty better than that. He knew that there was no way Betty would become obsessed with a guy like Wesley. It just was not a Betty thing to do. Because he could not see Betty lowering her standards to date a guy like Wesley so he knew that there was more to her story and was more interested in Betty’s side…He also wanted to punch Wesley because he had this burning rage in the pit of this stomach at the thought of Betty with someone else…No… No… No… He was not jealous. He couldn’t be jealous...He didn’t have the right to be jealous as he lost that right the moment he acted like a coward by breaking things off with her. Maybe that was another reason he couldn’t get to sleep is that fact that Betty was back in his life.

 

Jughead thought he had been dreaming when he saw her in the library looking at the table where Wesley was sitting and he could hear the fire in her voice. Even though he didn’t hear it, Jughead knew that they had said something to anger her. Then she looked up and spoke to him. The sound of her voice was like music to his ears. It had taken every fiber in his being not to run up and scoop her up in his arms. They started talking as if the worst year of his life had never happened like she wasn’t missing from his life. He would never admit to anyone but his life without her in it was hell. He found himself getting lost in the way her soft green eyes when the lit up when she laughed. Then he asked her to join him while they study so he could talk to her a little more, but then Wesley’s bitch girlfriend spoke up telling Betty that she was not welcome. Even though Betty responded in a graceful way, he could see the spark of hurt in her eyes. Not ready for her to leave just yet, Jughead asked where she was going so he could join her instead then Alice came barging into the room. That damn Alice Cooper knew how to ruin a moment.

 

The morning continued on and he found himself entering the room of his class. He had been dreading the hour and a half of sitting by the people who annoyed him the most. Then he saw her looking stunning as always. He felt his heart stop when she turned her beautiful smile up at him as he teased her for not saving a seat for him. He missed the way her eyes lit up whenever she got an idea by the time she was through with that idea. Jughead was sitting beside her loving the stunned looks from the groupies in front of them.

 

More laughter erupted outside his door jarring Jughead from his thoughts. Wesley had a few friends over talking about a party that they were planning. Not wanting to be a part of the planning, Jughead excused himself saying that he needed to study and ran for cover in his room. He had heard bits and pieces about the party and Wesley asked him to come. He was not planning on going but when Wesley said that there was going to be food. He figured that he could grace his presence to steal a few snacks then board himself up in his room. He hated the way his love for food made him weak Or maybe he could come up with something that would get him out of the dorm until the party was over. He hated parties.

 

Jughead felt the need to sleep re-enter his body and laid back. Once his head hit the pillow his mind went racing back to Betty Cooper. He felt as if he was back in high school when she consumed every one of his thoughts when they were dating. He could remember the nights where he wished that he could sneak out just see her one more time but knew his dad would beat his ass if he stepped an inch towards that door. Jughead rolled to his side staring at the window where he could see a sliver of the moon flowing through the glass to the floor.

 

“Fuck,” Jughead mumbled as he tried to clear his mind of the girl in question. She was invading his every thought. If he was honest, Betty Cooper had been on his mind every day since their break up. Hell, she had been on his mind every day for as long as he could remember. He thought that he was getting better at blocking her out of his mind, but now that he had seen her again he knew it was going to be damn well impossible especially with her sitting next to him in class.

 

He laughed at the memory of Betty telling Jenna off when she kept going on about that damn date she wanted him to go on. He shuddered at the thought of the date. He hadn't been on a date since Betty. He didn't want to nor did he have any interest to go out on a date that was a friend of Jenna. He hadn't really about dating so he just focused on his classes and the newspaper. It kept him busy enough over the past year that he didn't really have time for anything else. He was also hoping that Betty would join him on the paper. It would be like old times for them maybe it would lead them back to where they were before that night.

 

That night. It was one of his biggest regrets. He wished that he could take everything back that he had said that night. He could not get the broken look in her eyes out of his mind for days. He should have never let her leave that park. He should have gone after her telling her that they would find a way to make it work together. They could have made it work because it was them. they had been through hell and back. They could get through with raising a child, but she left. And he let her go.

 

When he got home his father pulled everything out of him including the fact about Betty being pregnant. His dad told him to man up and to go after his girl who was now carrying his child and he did. The next morning he hurried over to the Cooper house only to find Alice in tears with a letter in her hands telling him that Betty was gone. He looked for her for days but no one saw her. He went to all their secret spots. She was never there. Then weeks past and he began to go to school at Vassar hoping that he would run into her there, but she was nowhere. Until that morning in the library. He had so many things that he wanted to ask her.

 

Jughead was blown away by her simple beauty. She didn't even have to try and she was beautiful. He couldn't deny that his feeling for her were still as strong as they were a year ago or even three years ago. He still loved her and he knew that he always would. He also knew one thing, that he had let her go once and this time now that she was back in his life he was never letting her go. Because that was mistake that he made and he was never making it again.


	7. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank everyone who has helped me with the chapter to help it shine.
> 
> There is one scene I would like to dedicate to ExMachina187. You know which one it is! Because you are great.
> 
> I also want to thank theonlyemmaleigh for helping when I am unsure of something. You are awesome.
> 
> Love you guys!

Chapter Six

Betty

The next day, Betty sat on her couch in the apartment with her hands full of a very happy Ellie.  She was making noise with her lips causing Ellie to burst into a string of giggles that made her cheeks turn red.  Betty leaned her head forward to press a kiss to her little button nose. Betty sighed as she heard her phone ringing. She looked around to find it spotting it on the kitchen table where it was charging.

“Who do you think that is?” Betty asked, bringing the baby closer to her chest as she got off the couch to go over to the table. “Look, Ellie,” She said excitedly as she picked up her phone. “Auntie Ronnie’s calling us...should we answer it?” She asked her looking to Ellie, who was watching her with wide eyes.

“I guess we better should or she will be beating down our door if we don’t,” Betty hit the button as she put the phone to her ear. “Helloooo?” She said in a silly voice while as Ellie’s face lit up with a cute smile.

“ You are way too chipper this morning,” Veronica grumbled.

“It sounds as if Auntie Ronnie hasn’t had her three cups of coffee yet,” Betty said to Ellie with a laugh.

“I am on my sixth!”

“Uh oh… What’s wrong?” Betty asked concerned by Ronnie’s voice.

“Archie!” Ronnie cried and she felt her shoulders sag at the name.

“What did he do now?” Betty inquired, knowing it was not good.

“Just wait until I tell you,” Ronnie growled. “By the way, I am on the way to your door as I speak.” She added. “I needed to get out of the city before I lost my mind.”

“My door?” Betty looked at her door. “Right now?” She asked as she held the phone with her shoulder and laid Ellie down on her little play mat as a loud rambunctious knock sounded at her door.

“That was fast! Did develop super speed since I have been gone?” She asked curiously. Betty made sure that Ellie was satisfied before walking over to the door.

“What are you talking about?” Ronnie asked her as she opened the door to see Jenna standing on the other side instead of Veronica.

“That is not me at the door, Betty. I am on my way up now.”

“You don’t say,” She replied to her best friend. “I will see you soon.” She added, ending the call so she could deal with the person in front of her.  Jenna seemed oblivious that someone had answered the door as she was too engrossed in her phone to notice.

“What do you want?” Betty asked thinly making the girl look up from her screen.

Jenna’s eyes widened at the sight of her. “I didn’t know you lived here,” She sneered sweeping her eyes up and down the door. “Though I can’t be too surprised. The place is screamingly plain and dull which is a great match for you. Do you mind if I see the inside?” She asked trying to peek through the crack of the door.

“I do mind,” Betty replied evenly. She stepped out into the hall pulling the door to until there was a tiny crack. Betty blocked it with her body so that Jenna wouldn’t be able to peer inside nor did she want to expose her daughter to the bitchy gems shooting out of Jenna’s eyes. “What do want?” Betty asked her again folding her arms across her chest.

“Betty!!!”

Both girls turned as a new cheery new voice sounded in the hallway. Betty smiled as she saw Ronnie coming down the hall with a big smile aimed her way. Ronnie held out her arms as she reached Betty wrapping them around the blonde.

“It is so good to see you,” Ronnie sighed as she pulled back from the girl. “You have no idea how much I have missed you.”

Betty laughed at the taller girl’s dramatics.“It’s only been a week Ron,”

“Oh my God!”

The outburst had Betty and Ronnie turn to the other girl in the hallway. Jenna was looking at Veronica with wide eyes.

“Are you Veronica Lodge?” Jenna asked her with an excited grin.

“I am,” Ronnie replied with a simple nod. “Who are you?” She asked politely.

“I am such a big fan of yours,” Jenna replied with admiration lacing her voice. “I used to follow you in the magazines before you disappeared after what happened to your father.”

“Thanks,” Ronnie smiled at the girl. She looked out the corner of her eye and she could see Betty staring at Jenna with an annoyed look. This sent off warning bells in Ronnie’s head because Betty was normally warm towards everyone.

“Let’s go get a cappuccino,” Jenna suggested suddenly. “I know this great cafe just around the corner from here. My friends and I go there all the time.” Jenna turned to Betty with a fake smile. “I totally forgot that you were standing there. Sorry, but the invite is only for the cool kids.”

“What is your name again?” Ronnie asked the girl. “I don’t recall you giving it to me.”

“It’s Jenna.”

Ronnie looked to Betty asking her if this was the girl who was dating Wesley. Betty gave her a slight nod confirming her suspicions. “Well, Jenna I would love to join you,” Ronnie started as she wrapped an arm around Betty’s shoulders, “but I already have plans with my friend here.”

“You are friends-” Jenna gasped astonished at the thought, “-with her?” Jenna looked at Ronnie with wide eyes.

“Sure am,” Ronnie said proudly. “Best friends in fact.” Ronnie gave Betty’s shoulder a squeeze.

“I’m sorry. If you ever have an opening for a friend. I will be happy to fill that role,” Jenna said cockily.

“I am sure you would be,” Ronnie sighed. “But I am afraid that I am not accepting applications for friends anytime soon. I seemed to have hit the jackpot when it comes to that group.” Ronnie smiled warmly at Betty who rolled her eyes at her fluffy words. “Since I am her friend, I have a duty to know why you knocked on her door,” Ronnie stated.

“I was just passing through the neighborhood,” Jenna glanced up and down the hall. “I was going around inviting people to my party that I am having this Friday night. We would love if you could join us.” Jenna explained looking from Ronnie to Betty. “Just remember it is a costume party.” She added with a grin.

There was something in Jenna’s tone that made her doubt the costume party. “Really?” Betty narrowed her eyes at Jenna.  “Because it is nowhere close to Halloween.”

“We thought it would be fun and original,” Jenna told her. “We want the party warm and welcoming, so if costume parties aren’t your thing. You don’t have to come.” She smiled coldly as Betty.

“Well then,” Ronnie chimed in, “if you want to warm the place up for the party maybe you should consider moving. I am sure that the occupants will be happy when your chilly ass leaves the building.” Betty had to slap a hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter as Jenna’s eyes narrowed at Ronnie’s words.

She placed her hands on her hips “Excuse me?” Jenna asked icily. “What do you mean by that?”

“You seem like a smart little college girl,” Ronnie grinned at her. “I am sure you can figure it out yourself.” She added with an even amount of coolness in her voice. She was the ice queen of course.

Betty had reduced her laughter to giggles as two girls silently glared at each other. “Well if that is all you wanted Jenna, I am sure you can see your way out of my building,” Betty pointed to the stairwell at the end the hallway. “And let us get on with our day.”

“I will leave when I get finished inviting everyone to the party,” Jenna said looking up at the ceiling. “I still have two more floors to go through.”

“Then get moving,“ Ronnie told her. “Or I will take pictures of your poorly concealed nose job scars and plaster them all over the school so they can see how fake you really are.” She jeered at the shorter girl whose jaw dropped.

“My nose is not fake,” Jenna cried covering her nose with her hand.

“You know when you get work done on yourself at least make sure it looks natural and not as it came straight out of a lab,” Ronnie said her eyes sweeping Jenna’s frame. “If I were you, I would ask for my money back.”

Jenna’s mouth dropped open. “How dare you!” Jenna squealed. She looked ready to set the building on fire with Ronnie inside of it. Jenna cut her eyes at Betty who was holding on to the door frame to keep herself was falling down to the ground in laughter. “Well, you can consider yourself uninvited,” She snapped at Betty before walking away from the girls.

“That’s okay,” Betty wheezed with tears rolling down her face. “I wasn’t planning on going anyway.” She yelled. Her words were rewarded by the sound of a slamming door which caused both the girls to crumble with more laughter.

“That was so great,” Betty breathed as she held onto her stomach as she opened the door. “Get inside before you cause any more trouble.” She ordered Ronnie.

“Me cause trouble?” Ronnie gasped acting shocked by such an accusation. “Never! Now, where is my Ellie girl!” Ronnie yelled as she entered the apartment. “ELLIE!!!” She squealed when she spotted the baby on the floor causing the baby to jump in fright. “Oh no!” Ronnie looked to Betty as Ellie’s face scrunched up as she began to wail.

“Awww! My poor baby,” Betty cooed sweeping the weeping baby up off the floor into her arms. Betty started laughing as Ellie’s face turned red and wet with tears. Betty started swaying gently talking to Ellie in a low soothing tone.

“I’m so sorry,” Ronnie said covering her mouth with her hands.  “I didn’t mean to scare her.”

“It’s okay,” Betty laughed. “She has been jumpy with sounds lately. Any kind of loud noise makes her cry. I did this morning when I dropped a cookie tray. It took twenty minutes to calm her down.”

Betty started singing a soft tune. Ellie snuggled her face into her chest. Moments later, Betty heard soft snoring. She glanced down to see that Ellie had fallen asleep. “Or maybe she was just tired.”

Betty walked around sitting down into the spot she had been in moments before Ronnie’s phone call and Jenna unexpected visit. She shifted Ellie around until she was lying long ways in her arms. “So, what is going on with you and Archie?” Betty asked.

“He keeps sending me flowers,”  Ronnie sighed. “I have received three dozen white roses in the last three days from him. And last night, he showed up as I was leaving the volunteer center at the hospital.”

“What did he say?”

“The same thing he always says, that he’s sorry,” Ronnie sighed dropping down in the chair. “I keep telling him that I don’t want to listen to his lies anymore. I’m just not ready to forgive him yet. He hurt me really bad, Betty.”

“I know he did,” Betty soothed, running her hand up and down Ellie’s back. “He needs to understand and you may have to force him to stay away.”

“How?”

“There are ways Ronnie,” Betty informed. “You can do it legally if you have to. Like a restraining order?”

“No,” Ronnie shook her head. “I still love Archie, but every time that I see him again. That stabbing pain in my chest comes back like the night I found him kissing that thing he called a woman.”

“I honestly don’t know how he is still living,” Betty sighed. “I mean if it was Jughead...I think I would put his head on a pike.”

“Speaking of Jughead,” Ronnie smiled knowingly. “That is the reason why I am here. Kevin called me last night.”

“He did?” Betty deadpanned. She had spent a better part of the previous evening with a very worried Kevin on the other line. “When did he do that?” Betty squinted her eyes with confusion.

“He has ways. He’s concerned Betty and so am I,” Ronnie said watching her closely. “I don’t know how you can be so calm...I mean I would be freaking out.”

“I had my freak out yesterday with Kevin,” Betty laughed. “I have a feeling that everything is going to be okay though.”

“Until you tell him about Ellie,” Ronnie pointed out. Betty sighed pressing a kiss to the baby’s head breathing in her sweet smell. “You are going to tell him right?”

“Yes, I am going to tell him,” Betty replied. “I just don’t know how to tell him.” Betty lifted her shoulders. “I mean how do I start up that conversation? Do I say: Hey Jughead! I missed you this last year...Did I forget to mention that I had your child?”

“Something like that,” Ronnie smirked and Betty rolled her eyes.

“I am not doing it like that,” Betty refused. “Did I tell you that my mom knew that he was here?”

“She did?” Ronnie gaped. “That is so classic Alice!”

“Mmhmm. She did,” Betty nodded. “She even asked me to join the school’s newspaper. And guess who the editor is?”

“I am guessing it is your beanie wearing loverboy?”

“The one and only,” Betty confirmed, getting up off the couch laying Ellie down in her bassinet.

“Kevin is right….This is like the most romantic movie ever,” Ronnie muttered. Betty started pacing in front of her. “So are you going to join?”

“I think I am going to,” Betty said playing with the end of her messy ponytail. It would give her more time with Jughead and would give her many opportunities to tell Jug about Ellie. It would give her more time with her mother as well.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Ronnie asked her. “With Ellie, your classes, and your writing gig?”

“It will be tough, but I think I can manage,” Betty assured her. “If I can handle 15 hours of labor that ended in a c-section, I can handle anything.”

“Just don’t get yourself stressed out too much,” Ronnie said standing up going over to the fridge opening it. “Ugh...It is soooo empty.” Ronnie turned around her lips puckered up. “How are you eating with an empty refrigerator?”

“I haven’t had time to go shopping.” Betty defended crossing her arms. “And I have been eating.”

“What? Ice?” Ronnie chirped shaking her head. “C’mon...We are going out to lunch.” She said.

“Ellie just went to sleep,” Betty reminded her.

“So?” Ronnie shrugged her shoulders. “Just stick her in her seat and let’s get out of this apartment. I could use a good bit of carbs to wash away my Archie Blues…”

Betty felt her stomach growl at the thought of endless amounts of bread. “Carbs do sound good…”

 “Great! Let’s go!”

 

Twenty minutes later, Betty found herself in a small Italian restaurant sitting across from Ronnie who was looking at her menu as if it was offering her a million dollars in cash. Ellie was fast asleep in her car seat beside Betty in the booth.

“Oooh, this lemony shrimp is making my mouth water,” Ronnie said.

“No kidding,” Betty laughed. “You have drool on your chin,” Betty told her pointing at her own chin.

“I told you I was hungry,” Ronnie muttered as she wiped it away. “It is all Archie’s fault. I am going to spend the next four days in the gym because of him.”

“You should make him pay the bill for you then,” Betty suggested.

“Hell no! I don’t need any man to pay for my way,” Ronnie shook her head. “Especially Archie.”

“Well you said you wanted him to pay for what he did to you,” Betty pointed out. “So, helping you lose your stress pounds may be a start.”

“I can see it now,” Ronnie sighed. “He would probably sell his guitar to pay for my gym membership.”

Betty laughed as she looked at the menu. “I don’t know what I want,” She admitted looking down at her choices.

“This place has so much to choose from,” Ronnie sighed. “Betty check out the deserts!”

Betty flipped the menu around to see what she was talking about. “Oooh, that chocolate mousse looks delicious!”

“It does! But the chocolate strawberry cannoli is calling my name,” Ronnie sighed dreamily. “I know what I am getting for dessert!”

Betty snickered at her friend as she turned the menu back around to look at the dish she wanted and decided on the mushroom risotto with a green salad with extra croutons and cheese. It did not take long for the girls to receive their dishes and soon they were in heaven.

“See,” Ronnie sucked a shrimp into her mouth. “This was the best idea!” She grinned as she wiped her mouth. “Aren’t you glad that I came up here?”

“I am always glad to see you and the way you handled Jenna was epic,” Betty laughed as she remembered Jenna’s face. “Oh, that picture should have been placed in the yearbook.”

“Tell me when and I will make it happen,” Ronnie nodded. “By the way… I don’t like her.”

“Like I said. Her and Wesley are made for each other," Betty shivered as unpleasant thoughts of Wesley filled her mind. “I dodged the bullet with that one. I wish I could take those three dates and chuck them off the Brooklyn Bridge.”

“So you do still have feelings for Jughead?”

Betty nearly dropped her fork at the unexpected question. She looked up to see Ronnie watching her closely. “What kind of question is that?”

“One I want an answer for,” Ronnie replied softly. “It is okay if you do. I mean you guys did date for three years. Those kind of feelings never really go away.”

Betty sighed as she set her fork down. “Of course, I still do love him.” She answered honestly. “It’s only been a year Ronnie.” She reminded her.

“Do you want anything to happen between you two?”

“I don’t know,” Betty shrugged. “I don’t want to get my hopes up for something more until I tell him about Ellie.”

Ronnie nodded. “That makes sense.”

Betty heard a soft coo coming from the car seat. She turned to see Ellie looking up at her with blue eyes. “Hi,” Betty smiled at her baby girl who responded back with a drool-filled smile. She chuckled as she used her napkin to dry the baby’s chin before pulling her out of her seat.

“Look who decided to join us,’ Betty said to Ronnie, placing Ellie on her knee facing the dark-haired girl.

“How’s my favorite niece?” Ronnie said brightly at the infant. “You can not be this big.” Ronnie shook her head. “You were not this big when I saw you on Thursday.”

“Say, I am a growing Auntie Ronnie,” Betty said in a kiddish voice making Ellie look at her. “She has also found her tongue,” Betty explained as Ellie started sticking out the tongue.

“That is so freaking cute!” Ronnie giggled as she got a sip of her drink. “I so needed this day,” Ronnie sighed as she took a sip of her drink.

“How is the hospital?” Betty asked as she settled back into her seat.

“Oh let me tell you….”

After lunch, the three girls spent the day going around town looking at the various shops. Ellie received many compliments on how cute she was by many of the store owners. Betty shook her head at how fast her daughter was able to collect a fan club in one day. They eventually made it back to Betty’s apartment with their arms filled with bags of their day out.

“This is so cute!” Ronnie said reaching into one of Betty’s bag pulling out a pink tank top that caught Betty’s eye in one of the stores. “I am almost mad that I didn’t snatch it up myself.”

“Finders keepers!” Betty warned her. “Those are the rules we set remember?”

“I hate that rule,” Ronnie grumbled darkly as she held the top up. She went to look at herself in the long mirror on Betty’s wall.

“You were the one who made that rule,” Betty reminded her.

“How about I trade you?” Ronnie offered, reaching into one of her bags pulling out a dark blue shirt with shiny buttons that went in the back. The sleeves were straps with an edgy hem.

Betty stared at the lovely item in Ronnie’s hands. “Deal,” Betty nodded holding the shirt out for her to take.

 “Yes!!!” Ronnie chimed as she handed her shirt over accepting the pink one as her own. “I know a perfectly good skirt that would go great with this.”

Betty looked down at the shirt in her hands. She didn’t have a clue about what she could wear with it. It seemed that her fashion sense had gone out the window when she had accepted motherhood. Her normal wear now included whatever she owned that wasn’t covered in spit up or what was comfortable which was normally a t-shirt or a button up blouse with jeans with sneakers or ankle boots. “What would go great with this?” Betty asked her holding the lacy shirt up.

“Hmmm,” Ronnie hummed, Betty could see the images flowing through her mind with every blink of her eyes. “I could see that going with a nice pair of skinny jeans and wedges or maybe a skirt.”

“Good to know,” Betty tossed the shirt on to the bed as she worked on getting the rest of her things out of her bag.

“It has a sexy vibe,” Ronnie smirked lifting her eyes to her. “You could wear that one on a date.”

“A date?” Betty scoffed. “A date with who?”

“Jughead.”

Betty looked at Ronnie as if she had lost her mind. “I am not going out on a date with Jughead.”

“You keep telling yourself that,” Ronnie huffed at her. “Kevin and I have a bid going on when the first date will happen.”

“Really?” Betty glared at her friend. “It is nice to know that people are banking on my love life.” Betty shook her head as she placed the questionable shirt into her closet. “So how much is the bet for?”

“Twenty five bucks.”

“You know the last time you two had a bidding war, it was on my due date,” Betty reminded her. “You know how that went. You lost!”

“Betty Cooper! I did not lose!” Ronnie gasped crossing her arms. “Ellie just came later than we expected.”

 “You lost Ronnie,” Betty grinned at her best friend. “I know you hated that you had to give Kevin 200 bucks.”

“I know! He never lets me live it down either,” Ronnie pouted as she started placing things back in their bags. “Are you ready to see the love of your life tomorrow?” Ronnie asked changing the subject.

“Which love of my life?” Betty asked her arching an eyebrow up at the question. “The love of my life is asleep in her crib as we speak.” She said pointing to the other room.

“You know who I am talking about Betty,” Ronnie replied softly. “Every time I bring up Jughead you find a way of avoiding the subject. “She pointed out. “What’s going on B?”

“I just can’t help but think about what is going to happen when I tell Jughead about Ellie,” Betty admitted sitting down on the bed. “What if he gets angry and wants nothing to with Ellie? Do I really want to put Ellie through all that or-”

“Or what if you tell him and he wants to be apart of Ellie’s life?” Ronnie asked her.

“What if that happens and he gets angry for not calling him sooner?” Betty worried. “What if he hates me for it?”

“Or what if you tell him and turns out to be everything that you have hoped for?” Ronnie asked laying a hand onto her shoulder. “You owe it to yourself to find out. Why would he hate you?”

“I would if it were me,” Betty said placing her face in her hands. She had been playing the scene over and over in her mind. It always ended with Jughead walking away and never coming back and she didn’t know if she could handle it if she lost him completely. She had a hard enough time putting her heart back together and she didn’t know if she could do it again.

“Do you really think that?” Ronnie asked her softly.

“I do. I should have called him the moment I changed my mind,” Betty sniffled into her hands. “I have been completely unfair to him and this will change his entire life.”

“You won’t know until you talk to him,” Ronnie told her as she moved closer wrapping her arm around Betty. “As for hating you...There is no way. This is Jughead we are talking about. Do you know how many girls were jealous of you because you had a guy that looked at you as if you hung the moon every night? The guy who looks at you and melts every heart from miles? As I said, this is Jughead. He will never hate you.”

“Thanks, Ronnie,” Betty sniffed as she wiped the tears off her face. “I don’t know I have this overwhelming fear of everything that can go wrong.”

“That’s normal,” Ronnie insisted. “It’s a big risk you will be taking but it is the right thing to do. You do want him in her life don’t you?”

 “You know I that I do,” Betty looked at Ronnie. “Only if he wants to of course.”

 “Then you have to talk to him,” Ronnie said patting Betty on her shoulder. “ You need to do it soon before Ellie gets any older and you make yourself have another panic attack.” She warned.

 “You are right,” Betty sent her a small smile.

 “Of course I am. Veronica Lodge is never wrong,” She bragged placing a hand onto her chest making Betty chuckle. “I guess I should be going,” She said looking at the bags on the floor.

 “Do you have to?” Betty whined. “It feels like you just got here.”

 “I know, but time flies when you are having fun,” Ronnie sighed leaning her head back. “But my shift at the hospital starts at six tomorrow and you have class tomorrow. Besides with the traffic Who knows who destroyed their car on the freeway today. I want to see Ellie before I go.” She demanded.

 “I swear you love that kid more than me,” Betty grumbled as she got off the bed.

 “Just a little bit,” Ronnie chuckled while she followed Betty down the hall to Ellie’s room. “Aww,” Ronnie sighed as she peered down at the sleeping baby. “Make sure to send me pictures every day.”

 “I will,” Betty promised.

 “You can do this Betty,” Ronnie remarked confidently looking up at the blond. “Telling Jughead about her and I know he will fall in love with her the moment he sees her. And if not, then I will come all the way here and kick his tail.”

 “Thanks, V,” Betty chuckling at the thought as they walked out of the room. “Make sure to call me when you get home to let me know that you got in okay,” she said.

 “Of course I will,” Veronica. “I will see you soon, okay?” She smiled as leaned in as they kissed each other on the cheek. “Oh by the way,” Ronnie said as she opened the door. “You were right about one thing.”

 Betty looked at her confused. “What’s that?” She asked her.

 “Jenna is a bitch,” Ronnie answered as she walked out the door leaving Betty bent over with laughter as the door closed behind her.

 

-

-

-

 

A soaked Betty let out a sigh of relief as she stepped inside her law class. She glad to see that she wasn’t late as half the class had yet to show up. She pushed the wet strands of her hair out of her face as she went to her seat. Her eyes slid shut as she sat down into the chair. Her body welcomed the very needed support. It had not been her morning at all! Ellie had woken up early in a very fussy mood and all she wanted was to be held. Betty found that to be odd as Ellie always woke up in a happy mood, but not this morning. Every time she went to put her down, Ellie would start crying. She was still a little fussy when Betty dropped her off at Leigh’s but Leigh made her leave assuring her that Ellie would be fine. She remembered with the twins that when they were extra fussy it often meant that they weren’t feeling good and she hoped that Ellie wasn’t coming down with something. Then the weather traded in the clear blue skies for downpours which made getting across campus a little more difficult.

 “Who opened the sky up?”

 Betty forced her eyes to open to see Jughead sliding into his seat with two cups of coffee in his hand. She smiled as she knew how much he loved his coffee. It was him who got her hooked on the stuff. She eyed the cups with envy. Then Jughead shocked the hell out of her by placing one of the cups in front of her.

 “Is that for me?” Betty asked him not taking her eyes off the glorious cup. She literally crossed her fingers.

 “You know I wouldn’t have been able to enter this class with just one cup,” Jughead teased her. “Two sugars and two creams just how you like it.”

 “You remembered my coffee order?” Betty chuckled as she picked up the cup loving the way it warmed up her hand as his simple gesture warmed her heart.

 “I only ordered coffee with you like a thousand times at Pops,” Jughead rolled his eyes. “And I know how much you love it so,” Jughead shrugged.

 “You are my hero,” Betty sighed gratefully. Betty could have kissed him right then and there. She brought the cup up to her nose. The sent of the drink made her mouth water. Betty had been dying for a cup of coffee, but with Ellie being extra clingy this morning she was unable to get her morning treat. She was planning on stopping at the coffee cart after class because she was going to need the boost in order to make it through the day. Betty smiled as she took her first sip.

 “Well since you were kind enough to bring me a cup of coffee,” Betty began, “I guess I can help you out by joining you on the newspaper.”

 “Really?” Jughead looked up from his textbook his eyes wide.”You really are going to join?”

 Betty nodded, “Yes, I am.”

 “Well if I had known that I could get you to join with coffee,” Jughead mumbled. “I would have…”

 “You would have what?” Betty pushed looking over the rim of her cup.

 “I would’ve asked you out,” Jughead cleared his throat and Betty had to bit the inside of her cheek as she watched him stumble over his words. Classic Jughead. “For coffee a couple of days ago.”

Betty shook her head as she looks to the front of the class as Jenna was walking into the class. Jenna looked up and sent a harsh glare at her as she made her way to her seat. Betty chuckled to herself as she remembered the little rendezvous with Ronnie the night before.

“What is that about?” Jughead asked her as he noticed the look Jenna gave her.

 She started to answer but the professor chose that time to walk into the room announcing the start of class. “It’s a long story,” Betty told him as she gulped down more of the coffee. Betty gave Jughead a smile as the Callahan ordered them to turn to a page in their textbook.

 

-

-

-

 

Betty walked out of her law class and pulled out her phone to check for any calls. There were none as usual so she allowed herself to relax a little. She stopped walking when she heard her name being called. Betty turned to Jughead walking up to her and slightly out of breath. She quickly put her phone away since it had a new picture of Ellie as her background.

 “Man you can walk fast,” Jughead heaved as he came up beside her.

 “It’s all the sleuthing we did in high school,” Betty laughed as they started walking. “What’s up?”

 “I was going to see if you wanted like to come by newspaper later today so you can see everything,” Jughead explained as they turned a corner. “I will there until about 10 tonight as I need to get things ready for the meeting on Monday.”

 “I will try to make it tonight,” Bett said as she hit the down button for the elevator. She didn’t want to give him a precise answer because she didn’t know how her day was going to pan out.

 “So what’s up next for you?” Jughead asked as they stepped onto the lift.

 “I have my mom next,” Betty answered as she hit the button for the ground floor. “What classes do you have this term?”

 Jughead let his head fall back. “I have chemistry on Mondays and Wednesdays in the afternoons and Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have my law class with you and English Lit in the afternoons.” He answered as the doors closed.

 “English Lit sounds fun,” Betty said brightly. “No?” She frowned as Jughead started to shake his head

 “It did sound fun until my teacher assigned a five-page paper that is due in about three weeks on the debate between American Lit and English Lit,” Jughead answered.

 “That sounds perfect for you,” Betty grinned at him. “You debates in high school are legendary,” she reminded him.

 “I know, but English Lit is not my best subject,” He groaned reaching up to touch the beanie on his head. “I have no idea where to start it either.”

 “There so many things that you can do with that,” Betty said as the bell sounded and the doors opened.

 “I know,” Jughead nodded as they walked out of the elevator. “It’s just a broad subject that I don’t know what to pick, but I will figure it out.”

 “I know you will,” Betty moved around a group of people who were standing in the middle of the hallway. “If anyone can write this paper, it is you Jug.” She declared making him look at her.

 “Thanks,” He said, smiling softly at her.

 “You’re welcome,” Betty returned his smile as she felt herself getting lost his blue depths. It almost felt as if they were back in high schools walking to class. She could that his eyes held a question, but he never got to ask as they felt someone step up beside her. Betty turned to see it was Sidney.

 Sidney smiled slipping her around Betty's. “Hey, Betty.”

 Betty looked down at their blended arms. “What are you doing?”

 “I’m walking with you to class,” Sidney answered simply.

 Betty looked to Jughead to see if he knew anything about it, but he just shrugged his shoulders.

 “Why’d you do that?” Betty asked, turning back to Sidney. 

 “We are going to the same place,” Sidney pointed out. “I also wanted to know if you wanted to study with me sometime?”

 Betty pulled her arm out of Sidney’s grasp as Sidney’s intentions stroked her the wrong way. “I’m afraid that I am going to have to decline your offer, Sidney.”

 Sidney stopped walking to look at Betty. “ What? Why?” She asked her.

 Betty narrowed her eyes at the girl. “Why do you want to study with me all of sudden?”

 Sidney shrugged her shoulders. “We are going to work on the newspaper and we have a class together.” She replied.

 Betty smiled to herself as she figured out the reason for herself. “A class that we share with my mother?” Betty asked knowingly.

 Sidney’s eyes widen at this. “No! Not at all,” She said shaking her head.

 “Really?” Betty narrowed her eyes at her. “Because the other day I recall you asking me something like this _Are you sure this is even the place for you_?”

 Jughead turned to Sidney as he listened to Betty. “When did she ask you that?” He questioned, frowning. Jughead could tell that there had been something going on. He could practically feel the tension around them the other day.

 Betty turned to Jughead. “Right before you showed up,” she explained.

 Sidney straightened her shoulders. “I am sorry for what I said. I was hoping that you and I could start fresh and maybe become friends?”

 Betty stared at Sidney for a moment before shaking her head. “I don’t think so,” Betty told her as she started walking in the direction of her mother’s class.

 “Jughead, will you talk to her?”

 Betty stopped in her tracks as she heard this. She took a deep breath before she turned around to see Jughead shaking his head at Sidney. He was always a smart one. “No. I think she can speak for herself well enough.”

 Betty walked over to the duo and sent him a smile. “He is right. I can speak for myself.” She then looked at Sidney. “I also have enough sense not to befriend someone whose only intentions is to use me in order to get close to my mother.”

 “You are crazier than I thought,” Sidney remarked mockingly. The cold difference in Sidney’s voice striking. 

 Betty walked away without another word turning the corner ignoring the sound of Jughead calling her name to get away from Sidney before she said anything else that would make her feel ashamed.  She only stopped when she realized she had gone the wrong way and ended up in the corridor that had a dead end. Betty let out a groan of the frustration as turned around to go back when she saw Jughead making his way toward her.

 “Hey,” He said, offering her a small smile. “Are you okay?” He asked gently. Betty ran a hand through her hair which was down since she didn’t have time to throw it up in a ponytail.

 “I’m sorry about all that,” Betty mumbled scowling at the floor as he came to a stop in front of her. “I know she is one of your friends.”

 Jughead shrugged his shoulders. “Not really. You mean more to me and you don’t have anything to be sorry for, Betty.”

 Betty shook her head. “I am so stupid,” She laughed as she began pacing in front of him. “I don’t know what I was thinking when I decided to come here.” She added throwing her arms up the air.

 Jughead winced as she continued to talk bad about herself. “Stop that” Jughead demanded sternly placing a warm comforting hand onto her shoulder. Betty stopped her pacing letting out a sigh as she pulled her eyes from the ground.

 “Maybe I should just go back to where I came from.”

 “No.”

 Betty opened her eyes. “Why not?” She challenged him.

 Jughead took in a deeo breath at the sight of the defeated look in her eyes. A look that he had chased away many times before and he knew he could do it again. “Betty, you have worked your entire life to get here,” He reminded her. “Don’t let them take this away from you and that is what you will be doing if you leave.” He added looking into her eyes where he could see the early sign of tears. "You know that you belong here Betty. You deserve to be here more than any other student at this school, including me."

 Betty couldn’t help but smile at him. “You and your pep talks,” She chuckled and felt the air leave her lungs as he slid his hand up the slender slope of her shoulder to cup her jaw. Betty felt her eyes closed as she melted into his touch. She had missed it so much.

 “Only for you,” He told her as she opened her eyes to see him staring so intently at her. She reached up to cup his hand on her face and it gave her the strength to keep standing as her knees turned to jelly. Jughead swallowed as he traced her jaw with his thumb. “If you let them win that the will never get to see what I see which is an incredible person who inspired me so much over the years.  Because if you do, I would lose you again.”

 Betty felt her eyes fill up with tears at his words. “Jug,” She whispered as she was unable to find her voice.

 “Now, go to class and be the kick-ass girl that I know you can be,” Jughead told her as he pulled his hand away from her. The loss was almost painful to her. “Before you are late and your mother comes looking for you.”

 Betty shuddered at the thought of it. “We wouldn’t want that,” Betty sighed as she looked at her watch. She couldn’t keep the smile off her face as she looked up at him. “You’re the best you know?”

 Jughead looked down at the floor as he scratched at his neck. “I know I am,” he boasted and her laughter filled the hallway like the sound of many windchimes blowing in the wind.

 Betty looked down the long hallway. “Thanks, Juggie,” She smiled softly, standing on her the tiptoes pressing her lips to his cheek before moving around him to go to class.

 Jughead watched her go until she turned the corner. “You’re Welcome,” He whispered as he reached up to touch his cheek where her soft lips left a burning imprint.

 

-

-

-

 

The rest of the day ran much smoothly for Betty. She was able to pick up Ellie, who seemed to be in a happier mood, from Leigh’s. She was able to get a few things done around the house including some laundry and made herself something to eat. Betty was even able to get a few of her assignments done for her classes. She found herself being able to breathe a little easier. She felt as if she had things under control. Well, that was until about an hour ago when Ellie began to get fussy again. She now found herself pacing frantically in her apartment with a screaming Ellie in her arms.

 Betty turned around walking down the hall as she rubbed the wailing baby’s back. “Shh,” she whispered into Ellie’s ear. Betty kissed the baby’s head as tears entered her eyes. She didn’t know what else to do. Betty had tried everything she could think of: her bottle, her pacifier, her favorite bear. She even tried to put her down, but that seemed to make Ellie scream louder. But nothing was working.

 Betty groaned as she heard a knock on her door. “Just the time to have company,” She grumbled to herself as she planned to ignore it because she didn’t want to see anyone and she had more important issues on her hands than whoever was at the door.

 “C’mon Ellie girl,” Betty pleaded to her daughter as she patted her on her back trying to burp her. She had tried it already, but it didn’t hurt her to try again. The knock sounded again. Betty let out a loud sigh as she made her way over to the door quickly opening it to see a very unhappy guy standing at the door.

 “Yes?” She asked him as she swayed her body to rock Ellie trying to find some way of soothing the baby.

 “That baby has been screaming for over an hour,” He pointed out.

 “Really?” Betty asked him sarcastically. “I had no idea,” She snapped at him. Normally she would be apologizing but her nerves were shot and she didn’t have time to deal with the idiot in front of her.

 “Do you think you can do something about it?” The guy asked her. “I can’t study with all the crying.”

 “No, I thought I would just let her scream like this all night,” Betty rolled her eyes at him. “Is there anything else I can help you with or could you help me by going away so I can get my attention back on my daughter?” She asked him ready for him to be gone from her sight.

 The guy glared at her. “If that brat does not shut up in the next twenty minutes I will call the cops.”

 Betty shook her head at him. “‘Go right ahead,” she dared him. “When you do call, make sure you tell them that I am a new mom and I am doing everything I can to console my three-month-old baby girl,” She added before slamming the door into his face.

 “Oh Ellie girl,” Betty cooed softly as she rocked her body side to side. As she was about to walk away from the door another knock sounded. She closed her eyes as the sounds of Ellie’s cries echoed in her ears as she mentally prepared for the idiot guy. Betty pressed another kiss to her baby’s girls head as she swung the door open ready for battle. She felt her eyes widen as she found herself looking into the eyes of the person she least expected to show up at her door. “Mom?”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	8. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank my wonderful betas emmeleigh and ExMachina187. You babes rocks.
> 
> Thank you for all the reviews and kudos.

Chapter Seven

 

“Mom?”

 The word rang through Betty’s ear like loud church bells. She looked at the woman numbed with shock. Betty forced herself to blink several times trying to make her disappear but every time she opened her eyes. Alice Cooper was still standing there with her own eyes opened wide. They dropped from her face to the baby in her arms. Not just a baby in her arms. But the screaming baby in her arms. Alice’s mouth kept opening and closing as her eyes moved back up to her face. Betty moved to open the door wider as Ellie’s loud cries cleared the fog from her mind.

 “Do you want to come in?” Betty asked her tiredly as she places her hand on Ellie’s back rubbing it soothingly. Alice nodded as she crossed the threshold with Betty closing the door behind her.  

 Alice continued to walk deeper in the apartment her eyes scanning the room. She turned to the kitchen noting the bottles next to sink, the pink discarded blanket on the table and the bassinet in the corner. Alice shook her head as she turned around to look at her daughter who was watching her through red-rimmed eyes, a look she often wore when she was a new mother. Betty also looked like she was nearing a nervous breakdown.

 “I am not going to even ask,” Alice waving her hands at the baby items around the apartment. “First let’s get this little one calmed down and then we will be having a discussion. Understood?” She asked Betty who only nodded. “What is going on?”

 “I have no idea,” Betty shrugged as she began bouncing the baby in her arms. “She has been screaming like this for two hours.” She explained helplessly.

 “I see. A girl you say?"

 Betty looked up from Ellie to her mom. “Yeah, Mom,” She answered softly, but Ellie’s cries overpowered the moment.  “I don’t know what else to do.” She sighed placing a hand on her head.

 “What have you tried?” Alice asked her.

 “Everything,” Betty moaned. “I have tried her bottle, her pacifier, her toy, but nothing seems to work.”

 Alice placed her purse on the couch before walking over to Betty with her hands out for the baby. “Can I?” She asked hesitantly. Betty nodded as she placed Ellie into her mother’s waiting arms.

 Alice started speaking to the baby in a soft voice and Betty felt her jaw dropped as she watched Ellie begin to quiet down within minutes.

 “Really?” Betty huffed her throwing up her arms looking at Ellie as Alice continued to talk softly. “I did that for two hours and it only took you five minutes?” Betty gawked. “I am a horrible mother.”

 Alice shook her head. “It’s only because she could pick up on the tension,” Alice chuckled. “Babies are very empathic especially when they are this little. What’s her name?”

 “Ellie Grace Cooper,” Betty answered with a smile.

 “That is a beautiful name for a beautiful baby,” Alice said in a silly voice to Ellie who was looking at Alice with wide eyes. “How old is she?”

 “She will be four months next week.”

 Alice nodded as she continued to study Ellie’s face. “She is drooling a lot. Have you checked her gums?”

 “Her gums?” Betty asked confused. She went to sit down next to her mom as Alice began to feel Ellie’s gums with her finger.

 “I know what the problem is,” Alice said with a big grin at Ellie. “Say, Mommy, I am working on some teeth.” Ellie watched her with big eyes and her face was still red from crying.

 “Are you sure?” Betty asked her mom as she tried to look into Ellie’s mouth.

 Alice rolled her eyes. “I did raise two kids of my own and have helped with the twins. Also, the two bumps on her gums in the front also tell me the answer."

 “Is she even old enough for it?” Betty asked.

 "You started teething when you were two months old.”

 “I did?”

 “Mmmhmm,” Alice hummed as she looked to Ellie. “Since I did the math in my head, I am guessing she is the real reason you ran away?”

 Betty nodded. “It is.”

 Alice’s shoulders sagged. “How could you not tell me?” She asked in a hurt-filled voice.

 Betty looked at her mother. “Mom, it was only a few years ago that you sent Polly away for the same thing.”

 Alice nodded. “I will let you have that one for now, but how did you manage on your own? Who else knows?”

 Betty sat back on the couch. “The only people who know are Kevin and Veronica. I stayed with Kevin until last week when I moved here for school.”

 “How were you able to afford everything?” Alice asked looking around at the place. “On your own?”

 “I was able to get into the money I got from the Blossoms,” Betty began to explain. “I also work as a freelance writer for a website that pays good money. I also had some help from Kevin and Veronica.”

 Alice turned to her. “I could have helped you too. I am your mother Betty,” She reminded her. “I know I have been crazy and controlling in the past but you seemed to forget that I got pregnant when I was younger too and this is my grandchild. Who’s her father?”

 Betty’s eyes snapped up off the floor as her mother’s question. “Do you really have to ask that question?” She narrowed her eyes at her unable to believe that her mom would ask her such a thing. “Who do you think is her father Mom?”

 “I was just teasing you, honey,” Alice snickered as she watched Betty relax beside her. “I think her dark hair is enough to tell me who her father is. What does Jughead think of her?”

 Betty’s eyes dropped to the floor. “He doesn’t know about her.” She admitted lowly.

 “Please tell me you are kidding,” Alice begged with wide eyes. “How could you not tell him that you were pregnant with his child Betty?”

 Betty held up a hand to her mother. “I did tell him. The night before I ran from Riverdale.”

 “I knew there was more to the story when he came looking for you,” Alice sighed. “What really happened that night?”

 “I told you that we broke up,” Betty answered.

 “Because you got pregnant?”

 “No,” Betty shook her head.”The reason we broke up is that Jughead was being Jughead that night. I told you that he had received bad news and we are both about to leave for school.”

 “So he knew that you were pregnant when he came to the house,” Alice commented thoughtfully. Betty looked at her mother.

 “What did he say when he came to the house Mom?” She asked needing to know the answer.

 “He said that he needed to talk to you about something and that he was a jackass the night before, but I showed him the letter and he left.” She shook her head. “I should have dragged his little ass inside the house and made him tell me what was going on. But what happened the night before that made you run?”

 Betty sighed. “After I told him that I was pregnant and we both agreed that an abortion would be our best option.”

 Alice narrowed her eyes at her daughter. “Why would you choose that option?” She asked her. “I thought the two of you were smarter than that.” She scoffed.

 Betty gave her mother a look. “It is obvious that I didn’t have the abortion Mom,” She nodded to Ellie who snuggled into Alice’s chest and was laying there. “I just didn’t tell him that I changed my mind.”

 “You need to tell Jughead,” Alice looked down at the baby in her arms. “You have to be fair to him Betty. He needs to know.” She told her.

 “I know I do,” Betty nodded.

 Alice looked around the house. “This is pretty nice here,” She commented.

 “It’s not much but it will do,” Betty sighed. “It is a lot better than a dorm. I don’t think the residents would appreciate a screaming baby.”

 “No they wouldn’t,” Alice laughed.

 Betty reached over to take Ellie’s little hand into hers. “Normally she doesn’t scream like this,” she muttered.

 “Did you try giving her a bath?” Alice asked. “That used to soothe you when your gums were hurting.

 Betty shook her head. “I didn’t even think of that. My mind is still fried from the screaming match.” She rubbed her forehead. “I think I will do that and put her to bed.”

 “Can I help?” Alice asked her and Betty looked at her mom.

 “I would love that,” She smiled.

 Together the Copper women managed to successfully get a squirming Ellie into the kitchen sink. Betty scooted aside as she allowed her mother to bathe Ellie. She found herself smiling as she watched Alice interact with Ellie as if she had always known her. Alice was talking in a small voice that Ellie seemed to love as she would let out a string of giggles that warmed her heart.

 “Who is such a pretty girl?” Alice smiled as she used her hand to wet Ellie’s head. “I’m your grandma.” She started telling her a silly story and Betty took that moment to go gather some items for Ellie from her room while her mother continued to bond beautifully with her granddaughter.

 When Betty entered Ellie’s room she leaned up against the wall as she covered her face. She took a deep breath as cleared her cluttered mind of the exhaustion and regret that rested in her mind. She could not believe that her mother was currently standing in her kitchen giving Ellie a bath. She couldn’t believe that her mother had offered to help her after the way Betty had treated her by cutting her off when she left. Betty lowered her hand to her mouth as her panic turned over to extreme guilt.

 She thought back to the night she left Riverdale as it seemed like it was the only option for it. As she walked home from the park it felt as if the town's eyes were on her creating a suffocating noose around her neck. She felt as if she couldn’t breathe or maybe it was from the pain of the decision that was laid out before her. Or maybe it was the knowledge that she and Jughead were over, they were over and something she could never picture. It was even worse when she stepped foot inside her empty home. She had no idea where her mother or Polly was, but the house felt like it would swallow her whole. She then remembered Kevin asking her to come to spend the night with him in New York City before she started school at New York University. So, she hurried up the stairs grabbed an overnight bag, stuffed it full of clothes and grabbed a few necessities, before writing her mom a note leaving it on the bed before jumping into the car promising that she would come back. But she could never bring herself to turn back. Maybe leaving the way she did had been a bit hasty.

 “Betty where did you go?”

 Her mother’s shout brought Betty back to the present and she went over to Ellie’s closet pulling out an outfit before grabbing a fresh diaper and powder as well.

 “Right here,” She said as she walked out of the room. “I was just getting a few things.” Betty held up the clothes. “I thought we might need these.”

 Alice nodded her approval. “Good call,” She said and Betty handed her a small towel. “Thank you.” She wrapped the towel around a wet squirming Ellie who started to fuss when Alice pulled her out of the water.

 “She hates being cold,” Betty snickers as Alice carried her over to the couch laying her down.

 “Sounds like another baby that I used to know,” Alice said to Ellie, before shooting a playful eye Betty’s way. “So who is watching her while you are in class?” She asked. Betty watched enviously as Alice began to dress Ellie like a pro.

 “I leave her at the school daycare,” Betty answered as she handed Alice the pink polka-dot onesie. “I drop her off in the morning and pick her up when I’m done with my classes.”

 “What are you going to do once you start working on the paper?” Alice asked as she pulled the shirt over Ellie’s head who kicked her legs with her disapproval of the movement.

 “I was going to talk to Leigh about it tomorrow, the head at the daycare,” Betty answered. Alice nodded thoughtfully.

 “Or I could watch her for you?”She suggested.

 “Are you sure you can do that?” Betty questioned. “With all your classes and driving home? Do you really want to watch a baby after you’ve worked all day?”

 “I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t think I could handle it, Betty,” Alice pointed out.

 “It won’t be no problem and I only go home on the weekends. I have an apartment here where I stay I during the week.” She said giving a fully dressed Ellie a big smile as she picked up from the couch and turned her around to face Betty.

 “Are you sure?” Betty asked her. “I don’t want to impose or anything.”

 “Betty-”, Alice started sternly, “-You would not be imposing. You are my daughter and I do not mind helping you with my granddaughter. Just let me know when you need me.”

 “Okay,” Betty acknowledged reaching over to stroke Ellie’s soft cheek. “Look at my gorgeous baby,” She gasped. Her playful tone caused Ellie to give her a wet grin before breaking into a big yawn that told Betty that she was ready for bed.

 Betty quickly went into the kitchen to get her a bottle ready and turned back. “Do you want anything Mom?” She asked as she opened door to the fridge. “I don’t have any wine, though,” she warned her.

 “Water’s fine.”

 A few moments later, Betty left the kitchen with a bottle of milk and two bottles of water in her arms. “So, how did you know where I lived?” Betty asked her mom as she sat down on the couch passing two of the bottles to her mom.

 Alice smirked as she placed the milk bottle into Ellie’s mouth. “I used the school computer system to look up your information.”

 Betty shook her head. “You couldn’t have just asked me instead?”

 “Would you have told me if I did?” Alice asked her cutting her eyes at her.

 Betty pursed her lips together. “Fair enough,” She sighed moving to lay her head back against the cushions.

 “I thought that you and I were closer than this especially after everything we have been through over the years,” Alice said softly looking down at the baby who was falling asleep in her arms. “What made you feel that you couldn’t come to me?”

 Betty closed her eyes as she thought about her answer. “My mind was so messed up that night,-” she admitted, “I thought that you would be ashamed of me.”

 Alice narrowed her eyes at Betty. “Do you really think that of me?” She asked.

 Betty shook her head. “No,” She muttered playing with a frayed string sticking out from her cotton pajama boxers. “I didn’t know what I was thinking.”

 “I am not ashamed of you, Betty,” Alice assured. “Disappointed? Very, because of how you have handled this situation… And the fact that you even considered an abortion, Betty. How could you even think of that as an option? Especially after what your father did with Polly?” She shook her head disapprovingly at her.

 “It seemed like the only option at the time,” Betty answered. “As I said before, I didn’t go through with it.” She said looking down at her baby girl who was now sound asleep.

 Alice smiled as she too looked down at the baby. “Do you regret not going through with it?” She asked her. “The abortion?”

 “Not for a second,” Betty smiled.

 “I am proud of you for taking responsibility,”  Alice praised her warmly. “Just wait until I see that Jughead,” she grumbled.

 Betty quickly turned to her mother with wide eyes. “You cannot mention a word about this to him,” She commanded.

 “Well then, when are you going to tell him?” Alice asked giving her a grin.

 Betty groaned as she realized that she had fallen into her mother’s trap. “Soon,” She replied yawning as her body begged for sleep after the long day she had.

 Alice chuckled as handed a sleeping Ellie over to Betty. “Why don’t you put her to bed and then go yourself,” She suggested as she got off the couch. “I need to get going anyway. I have lesson plans that need to be finished.”

 “Okay,” Betty said smiling as Ellie snuggled her tiny head into her.

 “How about I come back tomorrow and we can order in or something?” Alice suggested. “I have three months of catching up with that little one right there.”

 Betty laughed as she rubbed her nose against the top of Ellie’s soft head. “That would be great Mom,” She said in a low voice not wanting to wake Ellie up.

 Alice smiled as she walked up to her daughter. “Don’t stay up too late,” She told her pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I am really proud of you, Honey. Even though I wish you had done it a different way, I am still proud of you.”

 “Thanks, Mom,” Betty smiled as she felt her heart warm at her mother’s words as Alice stepped away grabbing her purse then making her way over to the door.

 “I will see you lovely girls tomorrow,” Alice said with a smile as she stepped out into the hallway and soon she was gone.

 Betty yawned as she walked down the small hall to Ellie’s bedroom. She made sure to burp her before laying her down on her bed. “I love you,” She whispered, patting Ellie’s stomach gently making sure she was asleep before slipping out of the room being careful to not make a sound.

 -

 -

 -

 

The next day, Betty sat at her kitchen table sipping a cup of coffee as she hit the send button of her email with her freshly rewritten article back to Trish. She looked up and did a double take when she read 7:30 PM on the clock. Downing the rest of her coffee she looked behind her to check on Ellie, who had been cooing to herself while she laid on her floor gym. She got out of her chair to cash in on some Ellie snuggles when a knock sounded at the door. Betty quickly picked Ellie up off the floor before going over to answer the door.

 “Who do you think that is?” She asked Ellie as she opened the door to find her mom holding a couple of bags of what looked to be Thai food. “It’s Granny!” She gasped earning an icy glare from Alice.

 “It’s Grandma,” Alice corrected as she walked into the apartment. “Not Granny. I am not that old.” She huffed as she set the bags on the counter.

 “The wrinkles say otherwise,” Betty teased earning another glare from her mother.

 “Ellie, you have my permission to spit up on your mother,” Alice said looking to the baby. “I know I said we could order in, but I was hungry for Thai so that’s what I got,” she waved at the bags was she shrugged her blazer off her shoulders.

 “That actually smells really good,” Betty said as she walked over to the counter. “I haven’t had Thai in ages.” She used her free hand to open the bag to pull the containers out while Alice went into the kitchen to get a few things.

 “So, I have a problem,” Alice said as she came back into the room.

 “Well, at least she finally admits it,” Betty muttered to Ellie earning her a slap on her arm from Alice. “Ow… Do not teach my child to hit.”

 “Then behave yourself,” Alice tossed back, beginning to open the containers as she sat down in a chair. “I have been asked out on a date.”

 “A date?” Betty grinned as she shifted Ellie around so she could sit down as well. “That sounds exciting.” She said popping a shrimp into her mouth. “What’s the problem?” She asked.

 Alice looked up from her food. “Because I don’t know if I want to go on it or not,” She admitted. “It has been so long since I been on a date that I know how to go on a date.”

 “That is what dating is for,” Betty pointed out. “Just cut back on the crazy factor a bit and be yourself and he’ll love you. Or is it a she?”

 Alice narrowed her eyes at Betty. “You are full of spunk tonight. It's a guy. That is also another problem.”

 “Why?”

 “The guy who asked me out is your law professor,” Alice explained carefully.

 “So?” Betty shrugged carelessly. “It is just a date. Mom. It is not like you two are getting married or anything.”

 “I just don’t want to complicate things for you,” Alice said and Betty looked at her.

 “I will be fine.” She reassured her mother. “You deserve to be happy too. Do you like Professor Callahan? I thought he was married.”

 “He was,” Alice nodded. “She passed away in a car accident about four years ago and he still wears his ring.”

 “How sad,” Betty sighed pulling Ellie a little closer to her. “But that is not what I asked you. Do you like him?”

 Alice shrugged. “I think there is a spark there.” She smiled.

 “Then see where it goes,” Betty encouraged her. “I am sure he is feeling the same way. This might be his first time since his wife died.”

 “There is something else that I need to talk to you about,” Alice began placing her fork down and Betty swallowed as a nervous feeling tickled her stomach.

 “What?”

 Alice took a sip of her tea. “You father is about to go to trial for his crimes,” She answered.

 Betty stared at her mother. “Are you serious?” She asked angrily as she stabbed at the helpless piece of chicken in her dish. “Why does he even get a trial? He doesn’t deserve one in my opinion.”

 “That is the law of our land,” Alice sighed.

 “Have you heard anything about it?”

 “No, just that they are moving forward with a fair trial,” Alice explained. “I haven’t really kept up with it all. I just wanted to be done with that man. I thought when our divorce was final that would be the end of it but nope.”

 “Well maybe after this we will finally get some peace,” Betty grumbled with a bad taste in her mouth.

 “I just wanted you to be prepared in case if anything came up.”

 “I just want to hear that he is getting the frying chair,” Betty muttered.

 “Betty!”

 “What?” Betty looked at her mom. “That is how I feel about it and him. If he didn’t want the chair he should have thought about going on a slaughter run through our town, Mom.”

 “He is still your father,” Alice stated.

 “He is no father of mine,” Betty said shaking her head. She was about to say something else when she heard her text notification go off on her phone which was on the counter and out of reach. Alice held her hands out for Ellie and Betty handed her over. Betty pushed her unfinished meal away from her as the mention of her father had ruined her appetite. She got up to see who messaged her.  Upon checking her phone, she was surprised to see that the text message was from Jughead. She opened it to see what he had to say.

  _Jughead: Please save me._

 

 Betty chuckled as she sat back down at the table sending him a response.

 

  _Betty: From what?_

 

 Betty didn’t have to wait long for his reply and laughed as she read his message.

 

  _Jughead: From this hell that they call a party._

 

  _Betty: You went to a party? Willingly?_

 

  _Jughead: Hey! Food was offered!_

 

 Betty shook her head as she typed out her reply.

 

  _Betty: Of course there was…_

 

  _Jughead: Will you?_

 

_Betty: That bad huh?_

 

_Jughead: Yes! Come and save me!!!!!_

 

_Betty: Jughead Jones are you begging? Or do you really want to see me?_

 

_Jughead: That is how desperate I am…_

 

_Jughead: Wait! That’s not what I meant!_

 

Betty covered her mouth when more laughter bubbled up in her throat at Jughead’s jumble of words.

 “Who is that?”

 Betty looked up from her phone to see her mom watching her very closely. “Just a friend,” She lied.

 “Must be some friend if they have you beaming like that,” Alice remarked suspiciously. She bounced a giggling Ellie on her knee. “What do they want?”

 Betty sighed. “They are asking me to come to a party.”

 “Ah,” Alice hummed looking up from Ellie. “Go.”

 “What?” Betty gave her mom a funny look. “Are you serious?” Betty asked her. “I can’t go to a party.”

 “Why not?” Alice’s eyes furrowed. “You should go and have some fun,” She suggested.

 Betty shook her head. “I gave my right up to go have fun when I decided to become a mother, Mom.” Her eyes dropped to her beautiful baby in her mom’s arm.

 Alice rolled her eyes. “When is the last time you went out Betty?” She asked her seriously.

 Betty looked down at the table as she thought about her answer. “I went out with Veronica the other day when she came to visit.”

 “I’m guessing you had Ellie with you the whole time?” Alice asked and Betty nodded. “What I meant when was the last time you went out with just yourself?”

 Betty didn’t know what to say as she got up to clean her area. “I am not leaving my baby to go to some college party,” She said sternly.

 “That is not what I asked you,” Alice pointed out, “Besides, you already give me the answer by the way you are avoiding the subject.”

 “I don’t want to be one of those bad moms who go out and party all the time.” Betty crossed her arm as Alice began to laugh.

 “Betty, going to one party is not going to make that true,” Alice reassured her. “I will watch her for you while you go. Do you want to go?”

 “I’d much rather stay in with Ellie,” Betty replied and Alice rolled her eyes once again.

 “Ellie,” Alice said looking down to her granddaughter. “I think it is time that we kick your mommy out of the house.”

 “What?” Betty asked with wide eyes. “You can’t kick me out of my own apartment, mom.” She added stubbornly.

 Alice narrowed her eyes. “Oh I can and I am.” She got up out of her chair and walked around to the table to Betty. “You have the rest of your life to be a mother. Being away for an hour or two will not hurt.”

 “Ellie-”

 “Ellie will be fine,” Alice cut her off. “Now go get ready. If you are not out the door in twenty minutes you will be leaving like that,” she ordered.

 “Fine. I’ll go,” Betty glared at her mother as she turned into the direction towards her room.

 “You will thank me later,” Alice called after her. “And make sure you tell Jughead I said hello.”

 “How did you know?” Betty whipped around to look at her mother.

 Alice grinned evilly. “Jughead is the only person who can make your eyes light up like that," she explained lightly before turning to the clock. “Tik-Tok Betty.”

 “Alright, I am going,” Betty shouted as she walked into her room closing the door behind her for privacy.

 Once she was in the comfort of her own room and her mother’s stare, Betty allowed herself to grin as she hurried over to her closet. Her phone pinged again. She picked it up to see that she had one message from Jughead and it caused her heart to start pounding.

 

_Jughead: You know I want to see you._

 

_Betty: Just one question: Is it really a costume party?_

 

_Jughead: No...Why?_

 

Betty laughed as she shook her head at Jenna’s pettiness as she typed her replied.

 

_Betty: It must have been a rumor_

 

Betty turned back to her closet as she continued to flip through her clothes just as she came to the brand new shirt that Veronica had given her. She smiled to herself as she pulled it from her closet. A few minutes later she was dressed in the blue shirt completed with a white pair of skinny jeans with white wedges on her feet. She pulled her hair from her ponytail and quickly ran a brush through the knots before teasing the strands with her fingers. With a quick swipe of a pink gloss to her lips and a spritz of her favorite body spray, she was good to go. Betty smiled as she looked at herself in the mirror. It felt good not to look like an overtired mom. She walked out into the living room where her mom was sitting on the floor with Ellie’s feet on her knee.

 “What do you think?’ Betty asked turning around in front of them.

 Alice grinned. “You look good except,-” She said as she got off the ground and reached over to wipe a thumb on the edges of Betty’s lower lip. “Now you look great.”

 “I won’t be gone long,” She promised her mother. “I will be back if you need me. There are more diapers in her room. I should make some bottles up before I leave,” Betty said as she turned to go into the kitchen, but Alice moved around her to block her.

 “I don’t think so,” Alice said shaking her head. “Everything will be fine here. Now go have some fun.”

 “Are you sure?” Betty asked her one last time as she walked to the counter.

 “Betty…”

 Betty nodded as she picked up her keys and felt her pocket to make sure she had her phone. “I am only a phone call of way. If anything happens-”

 “I will call you right away,” Alice promised and Betty looked to Ellie.

 “Listen to your grandma,” Betty pressed a kiss to one of Ellie’s tiny hand and then her forehead. “I will be back soon okay?” She asked her daughter reaching up to wipe a string of drool away from Ellie’s mouth before walking over to the door.

 “Have fun,” Alice advised as she stepped out into the hall.

 “Bye, mom.” She said as she closed the door behind her. Betty forced herself to walk away from the door and soon she walking down the sidewalk in the direction of the party. She decided to walk as the night air felt nice and calmed the nerves that were raging inside of her.

 Ten minutes later, Betty arrived outside of a residence hall that was buzzing with students telling her that she was at the right place and the address that Jughead had given her matched. She hurried up the front steps which were crowded with students who were already drunk. When she opened the door she winced at the wave of loud music that hit her. She liked loud music, but this was over the top. Betty squeezed through a tight group of students that surrounded the entrance as she walked deeper into the building. There was a room where people were playing games, a room where people just standing around talking, and a room where people were yelling and laughing which made her avoid that room because she didn’t want to know what they were doing in there. She jumped out of the way as a group of male students came stumbling down the hallway screaming and laughing. Betty gagged as the strong scent of body odor and alcohol hit her nose.

 “That is so gross,” she mumbled to herself as she watched the group bound out the door. Betty went up a flight of stairs to the next level where it opened up to a common room. She began to worry as she scanned each face wondering if Jughead had already left the party. She turned to see Jenna making her way into the room with Sidney. Cursing to herself, Betty hid behind a guy large enough to be a bodybuilder, who turned to give her a confused look.

 “Sorry, I won’t be long,” She said to him. “I am trying to avoid someone,” Betty explained biting her lip.

 “No problem,” He grinned as he turned back to his conversation and the sound of Jenna’s voice had her looking over his shoulder. She couldn’t tell if she was annoyed or if her voice was just annoying.

 “I can not believe Jughead,” Jenna grumbled as she took a sip out of her cup. “I told him that she was coming tonight and he has barely said two words to her.”

 “That’s because you’ve been watching them like a hawk. It is why I pulled you from the kitchen,” Sidney pointed out. “If you wanted to get the two of them to get to know each other perhaps a party was not the best idea.”

 “I only did it here because he never shows up,” Jenna explained. “I don’t know what his problem is. He has all these girls who want to go out with him, but he never is interested in them. This is the fourth time that I have tried to set him up with a girl.”

 “He’s very busy with the paper and all,” Sidney reminded her. “They would have lost the paper last year if it wasn’t for him. Also, he has told you that he doesn’t want to date anyone and you don’t seem to be listening to him. Just leave him alone and maybe he will meet someone on his own,” She suggested as they pushed through the crowd.

 Betty waited until she could no longer see them before stepping out of her hiding place. She turned to the guy. “Thank you for letting me hide out,” She smiled kindly at him.

 “Glad I could help you out,” He nodded before walking away from her.

 Betty continued walking until she found the kitchen. As soon as she entered the room, her eyes landed Jughead wearing a blank expression on his face. In front of him stood a girl that matched her height with long shiny brown hair that seemed to be talking his ear off. She waited to see if he would notice her, but then the chatterbox in front of him started in on another story. Betty cleared her throat causing him to look up. His eyes wide at the sight of her and they silently begged for her help.

 Betty smiled at him as she walked over to him wrapping her arm around his elbow. “Sorry I’m late,” She said softly looking into his eyes loving the way they dropped to her hand as it slid down his arm to take his hand into hers.

“You came,” Jughead smiled as he pulled her into his side. “That is all that matters,” He added as his eyes held a smoldering look as they drop to her lips. She felt her lips tingle. Betty turned her head to look at the girl who was now glaring at her with her arms crossed.

 Betty suppressed a grin from forming at the expression of the girl before them. “Did I interrupt something?” She asked her innocently.

 The girl nodded her head. “Yes. Yes, you did,” She answered. “We-“, she said, pointing a finger between Jughead and her, “-are on a date.”

 “On a date?” Betty repeated as she turned to look at Jughead. “Really?”

 “Yes, we are,” The girl snapped, stomping her foot. “Why don’t you go find your own guy? There are plenty of people here.”

 “Honey, you weren’t on a date,” Betty stated. “You were just keeping my spot warm until I got here and now that I am here, you can leave,” She said nodding her head towards the door.

 The girl looked to Jughead. “Can’t you tell her to go?” She asked him.

 Jughead shook his head at her. “I could, but I really don’t want to,” he admitted.

 The girl glared at Jughead. “You are boring anyway. I don’t know what Jenna was thinking when she said this was a good idea,” She huffed as she walked away from the pair and left the kitchen.

 Betty and Jughead looked at each before breaking down into laughs. “Well, that was entertaining,” She said as she pulled away from him.

 “That was fucking brilliant,” Jughead breathed as he straightened up.”Thank you,” He smiled at her.

 “Don’t mention it,” Betty looked around as she leaned up against the counter. “I am guessing that is why you were begging me to come? To save you from the advances of your friend?”

 Jughead shook his head. “She’s not my friend. She’s Jenna’s friend. I don’t even remember her name. I must have blocked it out when she started talking.”

 Betty covered her mouth as she gasped. “You mean you didn’t see how beautiful she was Jug?” She asked him.

 “My eyes stopped working when she came into my line of sight,” Jughead sighed. “I should have known something was up when Jenna was so eager to get me here. She keeps trying to set me up on these dates.”

 “This was the fourth right?”

 Jughead nodded, turning to face her and raising an eyebrow inquisitively. “How did you know it was the fourth?”

 Betty tilted her head toward the door. “I overheard Jenna saying it to Sidney when I got here a few minutes ago. Why don’t you tell her that you aren’t interested in dating?”

 “I have told her many times. These four are the only one she has tried to set me up on,” Jughead admitted. “She tries to set me up at least once a week. I even make sure not to show up where she tells me where they are going to be.”

 “I’m sorry,” Betty muttered placing her hand on his arm. “That must be tough.”

 “You have no idea,” Jughead grumbled dropping his head into his hand. “I have told Jenna over and over but I don't know how to get her to listen to me. Anyway, I don’t want to spend my night complaining about Jenna and my problems.” He said lifting his head out of his hands.

 “We can talk about it if you want to,” Betty moved her hand to his back to give it a rub.

 “I really don’t,” Jughead said rubbing his face before turning to her. “There is something that I want to ask you though,” He said nervously. He opened his mouth to begin his question but never got a word out as a voice bellowed through the kitchen.

 “JUGHEAD JONES!”

 They both jumped at the loud intrusion and turned to see Jenna standing in the doorway with both of her hands placed firmly on her hips. Her eyes narrowed to slits as she burst into the room.

 “Did you really turn down another date?” Jenna asked him crossing her arms. Then she turned to Betty. “What are you doing here?” She asked her crossly.

 “I invited her,” Jughead told her calmly. “You told me to invited as many people as I could and she was one of them.”

 “Whatever,” Jenna growled. “What was wrong with that girl?”

 Jughead shrugged. “There was no spark between us,” He explained casually.

 Jenna shook her head at him. “Well, there isn’t now,” She hissed sourly at him. “Do you know how embarrassing that was? She told me to never waste her time again. What else am I going to do with you?”

 Betty rolled her eyes.  “You could do the logical thing,” She offered with a shrug of her shoulders.

 Jenna looked at her. “What would that be?” She asked her in a bored voice.

 “Not set him up on random dates maybe?” Betty said obviously. “Oh, and listen to him when he says no.” She added.

 “You know what, if I am going to continue this debate about your dating life, Jughead, I am going to need something from the keg.”Jenna threw her hands up into the air. “Then maybe I can talk some sense into you.”

 “Can we just drop the subject of my love life,” Jughead snapped at Jenna. “If I ever have a dating problem, you are the first person I will come to. But for now, will you leave me the hell alone about it?” He asked her crossly.

 “You don’t need to get snippy with me, “Jenna muttered defensively. “I am just trying to help you.”

 “Well, I don’t want your help,” Jughead told her.

 “Fine,” Jenna snapped at him. “I will never set you up with another date again. And then you can be sad and miserable for the rest of your life.”

 “That will be better than the idiots you try to set me up with,” Jughead grumbled.

 “They are not idiots,” Jenna gasped at him. “There are very intelligent women who can make you happy, but it is pointless to argue with you. I will be here all night if we continue this. So I am going to get that drink that I need.” She said walking out of the kitchen at an angry pace.

 Jughead sighed as he pulled his beanie off of his head. “I’m sorry,” He said softly to Betty.

 “You did nothing wrong,” she declared. “Jenna is just one of those idiots who doesn’t understand the word no.”

 “Let’s get out of here,” Jughead suggested leering at the doorway. “Before she comes back for round two.”

 “Good idea,” Betty agreed looking around. “Where to?” She asked him.

 “Let’s go out back,” Jughead suggested. “I would say my room, but I am sure the crowd out in the hall will make it impossible to get too.” She nodded as he began walking towards the door.

 Betty kept her eyes on the beanie wear boy in front of her until they were standing on the deck that had stairs that went into the wide courtyard below.

 “That’s better,” Jughead sighed as the night air was much more welcoming than the loud music that was pounding on the walls out the house.

 “Yeah,” Betty agreed as they went down the stairs into the courtyard to a set of benches that were placed around a small water fountain. She smiled as the sound of moving water entered her ears as the took one of the benches. She sighed as the pain from her pinching heel faded away. “This is so much better than inside that house,” She groaned rubbing her head as the music had made her head throb.

 “Yeah, that music is way too loud. I am surprised no one has called the cops yet,” Jughead sighed as he sat back. “You love loud music anyway.”

 “I do love loud music,” Betty nodded. “But that was too loud even for me.” She looked around the yard. “This is a nice little area."

 Jughead followed her eyes loving the way the lit up from the glow of the fountain. “It happens to be one of my favorite spots on campus. It’s not much but it is a step up from that old trailer park,” He grinned.

 “Hey! The trailer park was not that bad,” Betty said giving him a fond look. “That place has some pretty good memories and it’s your home.”

 “True,” Jughead agreed. “So, how was your first week of classes at Vassar? Is it everything you hoped it would be?”

 “Well, my opinion about people being assholes here still stands, but I like my classes,” She answered. “However, my law class is turning out to be my favorite class. Do you know why that is?”

 “That I do,” Jughead told her laughing as he remembered how she had bribed to guy to her left into trading seats with him so he could sit beside her. “Did you really pay him a 100 bucks for him to switch with me?” He asked her looking at the ground below which made her smile.

 “I sure did and what can I say, the investment is going to be well worth it,” Betty told him gaining a smile from him. “It is also turning out to be the class that I look forward to the most.”

 “Really?” Jughead asked softly looking up at her and she would feel his gaze on her. “I wonder why?”

 “Me too,” Betty said slowly raising her eyes up to lock with his and felt that all too familiar tug of her breath that he caused whenever he looked at her in such a way and she knew that he would always make her feel that way. The sound of the back door opening caused them to jump and it gave her a moment to catch her breath and she hid a smile when she heard him clear his throat.

 “Did you get everything sorted out with your mom?” Jughead asked changing the subject in which she was grateful for.  “You seemed a little uneasy the other day in the library when she found you.”

 “Isn’t that is our status quo? Have we ever sorted out our issues?” Betty snarked before nodding. “Only time will tell with us, but I do think we are on the right track to mending things” Betty admitted to him.

 “That's good. So, I thought you said that you were going to stop by the Times office last night,” Jughead said in a lower voice causing her to look up at him. “Unless you have changed your mind about joining us.”

 “No,” Betty said immediately shaking her head vigorously. “I haven’t changed my mind at all. I just had something come up last night is all.” She told him not wanting to explain that her mother has unexpectedly shown up at her door to find her daughter holding an almost four-month-old baby girl screaming in her arms leading her to spill everything to her mom and her mother showing up at her door also proved to be a godsend because she had been a tremendous help with the baby and the night ended with Alice completely in love with her new granddaughter. Alice also told her that she needed to tell Jughead about Ellie just as Kevin had told her and they were right. He deserved to know the truth.

 “Good, because the newspaper needs you,” Jughead said sounding relieved and took the moment while she wasn’t looking at him to study her a little closer. He could tell that there were things on her mind because looked like she was distracted by her though.  “So, you dated Wesley?” Jughead asked with a teasing note in his voice as she rolled her eyes as she turned them up at him.

 “Define dated,” She told him and Jughead sent a smirk at that went heated waves through her body and she swallowed as she tried to queue them all in. “I can’t believe the two of you are roommates.”

 “Yeah, but between you and me,” Jughead said leaning closer to the side so that she was the only one who could hear what he had to say. “The guy is not my favorite person and he is a douchebag. That stays between you and me.”

 “My lips are sealed,” Betty said pretending to zip her lips shut and threw the key over her shoulder. “See all gone. Why do you stay with him then?”

 “Because it is only temporary until I find something better,” Jughead admitted to her. “Most of the time I am not even there because I am out studying in the library or something.”

 “Or it sounds like you try not to be there,” Betty told him knowingly and he sent her a small smile.

 “Well it is better to be out then in the place listening to him and Jenna go at it like monkeys,” Jughead said causing Betty to mirror the cringe on his face.

 “Eww,” Betty groaned and shook her head as she tried to rid the thoughts from her mind. “Now I get why you don’t want to be there.”

 "Well he made it sound like what the two of you had was pretty serious,” Jughead told her and he laughed as he watched her soft green eyes widen.

 “Really?” Betty groaned and shook her head. “Because I didn’t know three dates qualified as being serious.”

 “Well, the way he made it sound that you were completely obsessed over him,” Jughead said and Betty had to clap a hand over her mouth as she tried to contain the rolling laughter that was escaping from it.

 “Are you serious? He actually said that?” Betty wheezed when her laughter had finally died down.

 “He said that you came here to come after him with hopes of getting back together,” Jughead explained. “And that you were obsessed.”

 “Jug, I am not obsessed over him,” Betty corrected him turning her body crossing her one leg over the other. “As I said before, it was not even that serious. We only went on three dates and that was over the summer. And for the record, I did not come here to get back together with him and I arranged for my transfer back May before I even met him.”

 “Good,” Jughead said giving her a warm smile. “You deserve better than that fool… What did you see in that guy anyway?”

 “I have no idea,” Betty shaking her head. “I guess that is why Jenna gives me a cold look whenever I come round and they treat me like I am a dumb blonde.”

 “That is something you will never be,” Jughead said to her.

 “Damn straight,” Betty grumbled. Her eyes softened as she looked into his. “I really missed you Juggie.” She told him softly.

 “I miss you too Betty,” Jug told her seriously and Betty looked at him for a moment before she reached over to take one of his hands in hers. Jughead dropped his eyes to there hands where the warmness that he had missed so much was now sitting against his palm and he brought her up to lips causing her eyes to sting. “So much,” He whispered against her skin. There were many other things that he wanted to tell her.

 Betty then knew that she could no longer hold in her secret. “Jughead,” Betty whispered thickly. The hitch in her voice caused him to look up to her now tear-filled eyes.

 “What is it?” Jughead asked gently watching as one single tear rolled down the smooth skin of her cheek. “Talk to me Betty,” He urged as he used the pad of his thumb to wipe the offending tear away.

 “Do you think about that night in the park?” Betty asked him weakly. “Everything that we talked about that night?”

 “I think about it every day,” Jughead admitted softly. “I regret everything from the night and I regret the way that I hurt you.” He forced himself to look away as he felt his eyes being to prickle as he remembered everything that he had said to her. Things that he didn’t really mean. “Things that should have never happened.”

 Betty closed her eyes as she felt her hands curl up into tight fists as an overwhelming fear entered her mind as she uttered the words. “I didn’t do it.” She whispered into the night.

 Jughead pulled his eyes away from the water fountain to look at her. He shook his head her words slipped through the cracks in his head and into his brain. “What?” He stammered as his heart began to pound in his chest as her words started to make sense. Betty’s full lips parted once more to say the words that would change his world forever.

 

“I didn’t have the abortion, Jug.”

  
  



	9. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oooh yay! Here is the continuation that you have all been waiting for. I am so excited for you to read it. I am extremely happy with the way this chapter turned out. So let us get on with it and happy reading!
> 
> Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone who celebrates it!
> 
> Thanks to my lovely betas!

Chapter Eight

 

"I didn't have the abortion, Jug."

Jughead felt the words sliver down his spine like a cold shiver freezing his entire being. He opened his mouth to say something but he could never get the words to come. Jughead rubbed his hands on the leg of his jeans as his heart went into overdrive. He wanted to stand up but he couldn't feel his legs so he looked down to make sure that they were connected. They were. He felt his throat began to dry up as he looked away from her. The house that was a few feet away from them was suddenly quiet and he had wondered if he went deaf for a brief moment. "I'm sorry," He croaked blankly. "Will you say that again?" He asked weakly.

Betty closed her eyes. "I didn't have the abortion," She said in a wavering voice.

Jughead suddenly felt lightheaded as she said the words again. "Are you serious?" he asked her breathlessly as the oxygen in his lungs dried up like smoke

Betty nodded as her fists tightened. "I am being very serious," She whispered.

Jughead's eye dropped to her clenched fists. "Don't do that," He sighed taking her hands one by one uncurling her fingers. "I just don't understand. I thought having an abortion was what you wanted. You said that you were going to go to a clinic." He swallowed hard as he looked up into her eyes.

"I did," Betty admitted softly. "I did go, but I couldn't do it," She looked down at the ground feeling ashamed because it wasn't one of her prouder moments.

"I sat there for hours trying to fill out that paperwork. But I knew if I went through with it that I would regret it for the rest of my life and I walked out."

Jughead felt his throat dry up as digested her words and closed his eyes. "Why didn't you call me?" He asked her shortly. "You didn't have to go through that alone. We could have made that decision together."

Betty sniffled and wiped a few stray tears away with the sleeve of her sweater.

"I did try to call you, Jug. I did! I must have picked that phone up a thousand times but I could never press Call. The one time I gathered enough courage to, your number was disconnected."

"Betty." He sighed defeatedly. "There were so many other ways to get a hold of me. You could have asked my dad for my number and I am sure he would have given it to you. So why didn't you try telling me before?" He questioned pleadingly.

"I was afraid that you would be angry with me for changing my mind," Betty admitted shyly. "I should have found a way to tell you sooner. I also understand if you are angry with me because, to be honest, you have the right to be."

"Why would I be angry with you for doing the right thing?" Jughead asked her slowly. "I am not angry with you, I am just disappointed that you didn't call me, Betty. I would have been there for you."

Betty felt her eyes burn at his words. "I was so afraid that you were going to hate me," Her voice shook violently as a sob threatened to pour out of her chest.

Jughead turned to her and cupped her face in his hands. "I can't believe that you would think that I would hate you," His voice was laced with grief as he shook his head. "I will never, ever hate you, Betty Cooper," He vowed passionately stroking her cheeks with his thumbs.

Betty couldn't stop herself from breaking down at his promise. "I am so sorry Jughead," She cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. Jughead closed the distance between them by pulling her into his arms wrapping them around her. "I am so so sorry," She cried into his chest where there was a comfort that she didn't deserve.

Jughead ran his hand up and down her back as she cried. "I forgive you," He whispered softly into her ear. Betty suddenly pulled away from him looking at him with wide wet eyes. "What's wrong," He asked her sounding confused.

"No," She hiccupped, shaking her head at him. "You cannot forgive me this easy, Jug," She tried to reason with him. "I have been completely unfair to you about all this." She looked away from him.

Jughead placed his fingers under her chin turning her face back to him. "That is not up for you to decide," Jughead told her firmly. "Because I do forgive you, Betty."

"I really don't deserve your forgiveness Jug," Betty breathed brokenly. "But thank you."

"Wait," Jughead blurted suddenly pulling his hand from her face. "What happened to the baby?" He asked curiously as he had yet to hear about the most important part. "I mean everything went okay right with the pregnancy and the baby? The baby is okay right?" He asked as a worry that he had never felt before grew in his chest

"The baby's fine," Betty nodded and Jughead felt the panic in his chest lessened a bit. "She's at home with my mother as we speak." She said softly

Jughead felt his heart flip at this. "She?" He whispered shakily to Betty.

"Yeah, Jug. She," Betty smiled at him gently as she thought about her daughter. "I had a baby girl. No… We had a baby girl."

"Woah," Jughead breathed as he cupped his mouth with his hands. He gazed out into the yard as the news sank into him. "This means…" He trailed off as his throat closed up and his head felt light making him move to grip the arm of the bench. He felt an utter fear wash over his being and the fact that he was now a father hit him with full force. "This means I am a father…"

He was a father.

He, Jughead Jones, was a father.

"Jug, are you okay?" Betty asked, noting Jughead's sudden ashen pallor. "Do you want me to go get you something to drink?" She places a hand on to his arm worried that he was about to pass out.

"No, I'm fine," Jughead said shaking his head taking a deep breath to clear his mind. "It's just a lot…"

"To take in," Betty finished for him. "Trust me I know it is. I want you to know that I don't expect anything Jughead."

Jughead looked at her. "Then why did you tell me?" he asked her, wincing as he didn't mean to be that sharp. But Betty didn't seem to notice.

"You deserved to know the truth," She replied gently. "And the right to decide whether you want to be in her life or not. You don't have to decide anything today Jughead. You can take some time to think it through."

Jughead nodded. "What did you name her?" He questioned quietly.

Betty smiled. "Her name is Ellie Grace Cooper."

"I love it," He said sincerely as he felt a small smile graced his face. "What is she like?" He asked her curiously. Jughead saw the way her eyes lit up at the question and he knew that the sight would be forever ingrained into his mind.

"Ellie is incredible, Jug," Betty gushed in a whisper, her eyes filling up once again, but this time with tears of love and joy. "She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life. I never knew that I could feel this way about someone. I still can't get over the fact that she's mine." She said in complete awe.

"Do you have a picture of her?" Jughead asked her with a need.

"Yes, I do,' Betty nodded lifting up pulling her phone out of her pocket and scooted closer to him. She held the phone out where both of them could see the screen. Betty took a deep breath as she quickly typed her password in with a shaky thumb. The screen opened up and they were greeted by the picture of the baby that was her background. Betty smiled as she looked at the picture of Ellie, who was dressed in a pink shirt and pants, she was laying on her bed smiling up at her. Betty pulled her eyes away to look at Jughead who was staring at the screen in a stunned silence.

"That's Ellie?" He whispered dragging his eyes away from the screen to look at her. She could see the amazement in them as she nodded.

"Yeah," Betty nodded feeling her eyes grow mistier. "That's her."

Jughead pulled her phone out of her hand to look at it a little closer. Betty was right because she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. "She's perfect," He said softly unable to take his eyes away from the screen. Was it even possible to fall in love with a picture? Because Jughead thought he just did. He couldn't believe that the little baby in the picture was his. "We have a daughter?" He asked looking up with awe in his eyes.

Betty smiled as she wiped a tear that escaped from her eye. "We have a daughter," She nodded. "I see more and more of you in Ellie every day. She has your eyes, which are so blue, and your hair, too, that is so baby fine! She has your complexion and her cheeks...I can never stop kissing them," Betty gushed looking to Jughead with big soft doe eyes.

"I want to see her," Jughead said looking up from the screen. "Can I see her?" He asked sounding hopeful. "Like tonight?"

"You can see her whenever you want to," Betty told him before shaking her head. "Just not tonight."

"Why not? Do you not want me in her life?"

"No," Betty rushed shaking her head vigorously. "That's not true at all. The reason I am saying no tonight is that she is probably already in bed for the night. And also, I just told you something that is nearly the size of a whale. Are you sure you want to see her right now?"

"I do. I want to see her, Betty," Jughead insisted firmly.

"And you will," Betty guaranteed, "I just want you to take some time to think about everything."

"I don't need time to think about it," He said stubbornly. "I want to be in her life, Betty." 'And in yours,' he thought to himself.

Betty smiled at him. "I am glad that you want to be," Betty said placing a hand on his arm. "You can meet her next week. I want you to have some time to process everything so that you aren't rushing into something that you will regret later. Everything is all too fresh right now." She added lightly.

"You were always the smart one," Jughead teased as he stretched out his long legs letting his head fall back. He could see some of the stars twinkling above him and he wondered which of those aligned just right to bring him here to the current moment. Jughead closed his eyes as his mind continued to spin. "You know what, I think you are right," He sighed, causing her to look at him. "It may be too soon. I'll think about everything and I will call you to let you know what I decide."

"Okay… But aren't I always right?" Betty joked. "I think the conversation that has led us to this conversation today happened on that Fourth of July?" She grinned at him.

Jughead sent her a heart-stopping smirk. "What is it about us and that date?" He chuckled.

"It must have been all those fireworks we shot off that night," Betty giggled as Jughead turned to her.

"Or the fireworks that were made," He suggested loving the way her cheek flushed pink.

"That smoke made us cough for hours," Betty sighed with a toothy grin. "It is Archie's fault since he almost lit his house on fire from those bottle rockets after having one too many drinks. Mary made him come inside the house to go to bed. We were all really drunk that night."

"I can barely remember that night," Jughead shook his head pulling his hat off of his head and took her hand into his. "At least we have something to remember that night with." He said softly.

"For the rest of our lives," Betty said reaching to take her phone back from him. She groaned when she turned the screen on to check the time. "My phone is about to die," She said gesturing to the red battery at the corner of her screen. "I need to get back home before that happens, in case my mom needs to get a hold of me."

"How does your mom know about Ellie before me?" He questioned curiously. "Or do I want to know?" He asked with a raised eyebrow when Betty rolled her eyes.

"My mom found out about Ellie when she showed up at my door unexpected," She answered. "After she broke into the school's computer for my address."

"Isn't that illegal?"

Betty snorted. "Has that ever stopped Alice Cooper from doing anything she has her mind set on? We are talking about the woman who would stoop to the lowest level to find anything out for the sake of a story Jug."

Jughead laughed. "How could I forget? Remember when she wasn't invited to the Charity Ball set up by the alumni of Riverdale High and she snuck in and fell into the cake?"

"Don't remind me," Betty said placing her head into her hand. "It took me two hours to just get the cake out of her hair. My dad just sat by, laughing his ass off the whole time." Betty looked up when she realized what she just said. "I'm sorry," She muttered not looking at him.

"It's okay if you want to talk about him," Jughead placed his hand on her back. "He is your dad." Jughead was treading lightly because he knew that talking about her dad had always been hard on her. He knew that she still carried the shame of her father's crimes, even if she wasn't the one who committed them.

"No, I don't want to talk about him," Betty said shaking her head, frowning as she felt her happy mood completely crushed by the subject. "Look, I've got to get home. But I will talk to you soon okay?" She said getting up from the bench and walking away without giving him a chance to say anything.

Jughead sighed as he watched her hurry towards the back door to the hall. He had almost forgotten that they were still at a party. How long had they been outside? He wasn't sure but it felt like hours. "Betty!" He called, and her foot froze on the bottom step before she turned around to look at him. He could see the guilt in her eyes and it made him want to take her in his arms to chase it away. Her beautiful green eyes didn't deserve such shadows filling them. He knew he couldn't hold her but he still needed to be near her, so he stood and ran up to her.

"I have to go," Betty told him and he knew that she was only running to avoid talking about her father.

"I know you do," Jughead said, stopping in front of her. "I wanted to tell you if you ever need to talk that I am here." He placed his hands on her shoulders and she could feel the searing heat spread through her body to her toes, warming her from an icy chill that always surrounded her. An icy chill that her father left her behind.

"I am here if you need me, Betty. I'll always be here for you," He promised her.

Betty swallowed as she nodded. "You are the best Juggie," She smiled sadly as she reached up to cup his face. "Don't let anyone tell you otherwise and don't ever change for these assholes that you call your friends." She stroked his cheek with her thumb, tracing over the beauty marks on his skin. "Just one thing you shouldn't ever forget, I will always need you, Jughead."

Jughead couldn't stop himself from pulling her into his arms. He closed his eyes as she placed her head on his chest and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. He had missed the feeling of holding her as he used to and he wanted to be the one to hold her for the rest of her life. He also had forgotten how good it felt to hold her. "Good, because I will always need you, too." He murmured into her hair and he smiled as he felt her snuggle deeper into his chest. God, he loved her. The sound of the back door opening made them look up as footprints sounded on the porch.

"There you are Jughead. We have been looking all over for you," Sidney said from the top of the steps. "Am I interrupting something?" She asked, looking from one to the other with a raised eyebrow at Jughead.

"Not at all," Betty said clearing her throat stepping back from his embrace. "I was just leaving," She told Sidney before turning to Jughead. "I'll see you later?" She asked him with a hopeful smile.

"Of course," Jughead nodded as Betty started back up the stairs. "Hey Betty," He called making her turn around to look at him. "Thanks for everything," He said sincerely.

Betty shook her head at him. "No, Jug, thank you for everything." She sent him a secretive smile before turning to go up the steps disappearing into the house.

"Jughead."

Jughead pulled his eyes from the door to look at Sidney who was watching him very closely. "What?" He asked her.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" She asked him and Jughead shook his head as she sighed. "I said Wesley needs you to carry a couple kegs into the place. And Jug, stay away from her. You heard Wesley, she's crazy. "

"Betty is not crazy," Jughead snapped angrily to Sidney, who took a step back at his unexpected outburst. "Betty is actually a very nice person and is one of the smartest people that I know. But you believe every lie that that asshole has said about her. And you use those lies to judge her and to treat her like shit instead of getting to know her. Or trying to get close to her so that one can get closer to her mother who happens to be your idol," He added pointedly at her.

"I'm sorry Jughead," Sidney said sounding apologetic. "I got caught up in my head and you know when that happens I tend not to think." She shrugged kicking the ground with her shoe.

"You don't need to apologize to me,-" Jughead said sternly, "-instead try Betty. And if she lets you, it needs to be sincere. She does not give her trust out to people that easily and you may have blown your shot by that little stunt that you pulled with her yesterday. "

"I will try," Sidney promised, giving him a light punch to the arm. "Now come back to the party and have some fun with your friends," She said nodding her head to the overcrowded house. The last place he wanted to be.

"I don't want to party," Jughead admitted shaking his head, which was still buzzing from the fact that he was a father. "I need to get out of here for a while so I can clear my head. I will be back later." He said going up up the stairs. "And no, I will not go get those kegs for Wesley. It is his party and if he wants them he can bring them in himself." He turned around without another word.

-

-

-

 

Betty walked down the hallway towards her apartment stopping when she reached her door. She leaned forward placing her head against it welcoming the cooling could not believe the way the night had gone. Betty certainly didn't go to the party to spill her guts to Jughead, but he gave her one of those soul-searching stares of his. They had always been one of her weaknesses and now everything was out in the open. Jughead knew about Ellie and she showed him a picture of her. Betty took a deep breath as she felt a small bubble of panic build up inside her. What if she had made a mistake? What if she hadn't? Betty thought back to the moment she shows Jughead's Ellie picture and where he looked on with amazement in her eyes. The same amazement she felt every morning when she bent down to get Ellie from her crib. Betty closed her eyes to say a tiny prayer to whoever was listening that Jughead would make the right decision to be in Ellie's life. Having enough of the hallway, Betty walked into the apartment finding it dark. She looked around the room as she placed her things on to the counter.

"Mom?" She called out as she walked across the living room to the hall. Bett noticed that Ellie's bedroom door was slightly ajar with a soft glow flowing through the crack. She pushed it open to see her mom sitting in the chair in the corner gently rocking a sleeping Ellie in her arms. Betty leaned against the door frame as her heart melted at the sight. Alice looked up from Ellie greeting her with a warm smile.

"Hey," Alice whispered not wanting the disturb the sleeping bundle. "How was it?"

"It was very interesting," Betty replied as she walked into the room sitting on the ottoman in front of her mom. "How was she?"

"She was a little angel," Alice smiled tracing Ellie's face with the back of her fingers. "She went to sleep about twenty minutes ago. I was about to put her down in her bed when you came walking in."

"I'll do that," Betty said reaching out for Ellie. She wanted to hold her baby for a moment before she went down to the night. Alice gently transferred the slumbering baby into her arms. Ellie stirred around a little before settling down snuggling deeper in Betty making her smile.

"I missed you baby girl," Betty sighed nuzzling the top of Ellie's head taking a whiff of her sweet baby smell. "Did she cry any while I was gone?"

"Just once when she was getting sleepy," Alice answered as she reached over placing the cap on the bottle. "She barely had any of this before she was out like a light. You put her to bed and I will go make us some tea and we'll talk. I want to know more about the party." She said before grabbing the bottle and walked out of the room.

"Okay," Betty nodded as she got up from the ottoman placing Ellie in her bed. "Good night baby," She whispered lovingly before backing out the room to join her mother in the kitchen.

"So," Alice started as she began filling a teapot full of water then set it on the stove to heat. "Tell me about the party."

"I told Jughead about Ellie," Betty confessed, sitting at one of the stools at the counter. Alice stopped what she was doing to turn around to look at her daughter.

"Are you okay?" Alice asked her, concerned walking over to the counter setting two empty mugs down. "How did he take it?"

"I have no idea what to feel, Mom," Bett sighed covering her face with her hands. "Jughead took it much better than I expected. What if I did the wrong thing? What if I ruined his life?"

"Betty," Alice sighed reaching over to pull Betty's hands from her face. "You did the right thing by telling him the truth and if he took it well, then you certainly didn't ruin his life."

For the next hour, Betty and Alice continued to talk about the events of the night and other things. Alice had to reel Betty back in from going into a full panic attack a few times and soon it was time to leave.

"Thanks for everything tonight, Mom," Betty sighed as she walked her mom to the door.

"It's what I am here for Honey," Alice reminded her as she opened the door after she got her purse. "I will call you tomorrow to tell you how the date went."

"Can't wait to hear about it mom," Betty said excitedly. "Try and have a good time. Don't let your nerves get the best of you."

"I won't. It just I haven't been on a first date since high school," Alice sighed nervously.

"It is going to be fine," Betty laughed.

"I will see you in a couple of days," Alice said pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Thank you for letting me watch Ellie for you. I can't wait to do it again. I hope I can have a better relationship with her than I do with the twins."

"That is not your fault Mom," Betty told her seriously. "It's Polly's since she has chosen to cut everyone out of her life."

Alice nodded. "Have a good night," She said as stepped out into the hall. Betty waited until she was down the hall before she closed the door and returned to the kitchen to clean it up before she went to bed.

-

-

-

 

Betty blinked and soon she was standing in front of the stove flipping pancakes for her Sunday brunch date with Kevin. She was trembling inside with excitement as it got closer to the time of his arrival. Betty couldn't wait to see him. Sure, she was able to talk to him on the phone or text him whenever she wanted to, but it was not the same as having him there in person.

"Oooh look," Betty gasped playfully to Ellie who was perched on her hip as she looked over her perfectly brown pancakes. "Don't they look yummy?" She smiled to the baby girl who giggled from her dash of excitement. "The bacon is done is done, and now the pancakes are finished. I just have to make the eggs when Kevin gets here." She said. She was placing the last two pancakes on a platter when a knock sounded at the door.

"He's here Ellie," Betty sang excitedly as she hurried over to the door open to reveal a widely grinning Kevin holding a large bouquet of roses on the other side.

"Hi!" Kevin greeted excitedly as he crossed the threshold wrapping the both of them in his arms. "I have missed my girls so much," He said tightening his arms around them.

"We have missed you too," Betty said snuggling into him.

"Something smells good in here," Kevin said sniffing the air. "Did you make those blueberry pancakes that I love so much? He asked pulling back.

"Would we offer your brunch without them Kev?" Betty scoffed playfully and Kevin shook his head.

"Of course you wouldn't. That would only be too cruel of you," Kevin snarked dramatically and turned to the baby in her arms. "Oh my Ellie," He sighed covering his mouth with his hand.

"Isn't she just beautiful?" Betty gushed looking down at Ellie with a loving smile.

"She is," Kevin nodded holding the roses out to her. "These are for you. How about we trade?" He suggested to Ellie.

"You brought me yellow roses," Betty smiled gleefully as she handed the baby over to him as she took the flowers from him. "My favorite." She pressed her noses into the flowers take a deep intake of their scent.

"And you brought me, my favorite baby," Kevin smiled as he walked into the apartment. "So I had to bring you something to show my appreciation," He said kissing Ellie's forehead.

Betty laughed as she closed the door and went into the kitchen to find something to put the flowers in. "I just have to make the eggs and we will be set," She said moments later after she set the flowers in a vase placing them on the counter. "Here is some orange juice, if you are thirsty," Betty offered, holding up the pitcher of juice.

Kevin nodded greedily as he took the pitcher from her and poured himself a glass. "Mmmm," He hummed after he got a sipped. "Fresh eggs, fresh pancakes, and fresh orange juice...How will I leave? So what is new with the Cooper girls?"

"Where should I start?" Betty questioned as she stirred the eggs in the pan.

"Oh this sounds like it's going to be good," Kevin grinned over the rim of the class. "Tell me now."

"Maybe I should wait until after we eat," Betty teased as she sprinkled a handful of cheese around the pan. "Too much?" She asked him.

Kevin narrowed his eyes at her playfully. "There is no such thing as too much cheese," He said seriously. "Now stop stalling and spill."

"Alright, alright," Betty bit her lip as she placed a lid onto the pan. "Well, my mom found out about Ellie." She told him.

Kevin's eyes widen at this. "Really? How did that go?" He asked her.

"Let's sit an eat and then I will tell you the rest," Betty suggested. "Because I am starving and these eggs are making my mouth water.

"That's a good idea," Kevin agreed as he shifted a wiggling Ellie around in his arms. "However, I have a feeling that is not what you wanted to tell me. What else is there?"

"I also told Jughead about Ellie," Betty confessed as she began moving things to the table.

"What!" Kevin exclaimed as he turned around to look at the young mother as he struggled not to drop the baby he was holding. "Jughead knows?!"

"Mmhm," Betty nodded as she looked up as she took a seat that the table.

"How dare you not tell me this first," Kevin gasped as he walked to sit down as well. "When did this happen?"

"The other night at a party," Betty answered as they started piling food onto their plates.

"Tell me more."

Over the rest of the meal, Betty brought Kevin up to speed with everything that was going on in her life. They talked about everything from her classes to the party to memories share between them. Soon, they had moved into the living room where Kevin was sitting on the floor with Ellie while Betty began the long haul of clean up.

"So what do you want to watch today?" Kevin asked while he tickled Ellie.

"It's your turn to choose, remember?" Betty reminded as she placed the dishes into the sink. "The last time I chose the Lion King."

"Oh right," Kevin said crawling on his knees over to the DVD case trailing his finger over the titles. "So many good titles here, which do I choose." He sighed dramatically as he began pulling cases from the rack. "What about Mean Girls?" Betty was about to answer when she heard three loud knocks at the door. Kevin looked up from the DVD player where he was setting up the movie.

"Want me to get it?" He asked and Betty shook her head as she quickly dried her hands on a towel.

"No, I got it," She answered as she made her way over to the door. "It's probably just my mom." She explained, opening the door to see Jenna standing on the other side twiddling her thumbs. Betty had a to take a deep breath as she didn't really feel like dealing with Jenna and her drama. Not when she had a movie date with her bestie.

"Can I help you?" She asked as politely as she could wanting to wrap this up as soon as possible.

Jenna looked up from her hands with a worried look in her eyes. "Hey is Jughead here?" She asked quickly.

Betty shook her head the girl. "No, he isn't," She replied.

"Damn it," Jenna swore as she pulled her phone out of her pocket typing away at the screen. "Do you know where he is?"

"Why? What is going on?" Betty questioned as concern began filling her mind as she started doing a mental checklist. "Is there something wrong?"

Jenna sighed as she looked up from her phone. "No, there is nothing wrong," Jenna answered. "It's just none of us has seen Jughead since Friday night at the party and he is not answering any of our calls." She explained as she put her phone away. "I thought I would just check here because we are beginning to get worried as it is not like Jughead to disappear like this."

"Well, he doesn't know where I live so he would not be here," Betty told her honestly.

"You were one of the last people to see him that night, did you say anything to upset him?" Jenna asked crossing her arms.

"Nope," Betty lied keeping her face void of any emotion as her mind began to wonder where Jughead had gone. "We just had a normal conversation to catch up is all. I left before he did and he seemed fine."

"Well, okay," Jenna sighed as she rubbed her forehead. "I don't know where else to look. Do you have any suggestions?"

"If Jughead doesn't want to be found, you are not going to find him," Betty answered. "If he doesn't want to be bothered he will turn his phone off which is why you can't get a hold of him."

"How do you know that?" Jenna asked curiously.

"Wouldn't you love to know that answer?" Betty smirked at her. "Sorry, but it is one that you will not be getting any time soon."

Jenna glared at Betty. "Don't be so sure about that. Anyway, if you see him will you tell him to call one of us?" She asked.

"I will try to pass it along to him," Betty nodded as her attention was pulled away from the door when Kevin called her name to see him wearing a panicked look and a crying Ellie.

"Who is that?" Jenna asked being nosy as she tried to look over Betty's shoulder. "Is that a baby crying?" She asked.

Betty shook her head at the nerve of Jenna. "It is none of your business," She said briskly. "I have to go and don't worry about Jughead. He will be back after he had has some space. Okay?" Betty didn't give Jenna time to answer before shutting the door.

"What's wrong?" Betty asked as she hurried over taking Ellie into her arms when she caught a whiff of a rank smell coming from Ellie's diaper. "I think I found the problem," She said breathing through her mouth going into Ellie's room to take care of it.

"So who was that?" Kevin asked as she came back into the room with a fresh smelling Ellie moments later.

"That was Jenna the bitchy girl I was telling you about," Betty answered as she sat down on the couch next to Kevin. "She was looking for Jughead."

"And she came looking here?" Kevin asked sounding skeptical. "And asked if you did something to upset him? Hey, I couldn't help but overhear the conversation," He pointed out. "What could you have possibly done to upset him?"

"Tell him that I had his baby?" Betty shrugged as she turned Ellie to him.

"Right…," Kevin said as he began to poke Ellie in the stomach causing her to let out a string of giggles.

Later that night after Kevin had left to go back to the city, Betty sat in the rocking chair in Ellie's room swaying gently back and forth with Ellie in her arms suckling away at her bottle. Betty leaned her head back as she gazing down at the little girl and reached over to pick up her cell phone.

"Let's see if we can get your daddy," Betty said as she went into her phone finding Jughead's number and tapping the name. Betty waited patiently as the phone rang several times before going to his voicemail which was a simple message.

"Oh Ellie," Betty sighed as she ended the call. "I hope I did the right thing," She confessed wondering if she had scared Jughead off completely. "I thought I was doing the right thing," She told Ellie gazing out into the room. "I can't wait until the moment you meet him, Ellie, because you deserve to get to know your daddy. He is one of the best people I know and he is so smart. He can also write in ways that I can only dream of doing. He inspires me and I can't wait to see what he does with you because you are going to love him. And I know that he is going to love you because I already have seen it in his eyes when I showed him your picture. Just wait until he really meets you, he is never going to let you go and he will protect you with his life. But just so you know, he will never love you more than me." Betty continued to talk to Ellie about Jughead until she found herself leaning her head back as she fell asleep with Ellie snoozing away in her arms.


	10. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next installment of Never Stopped. Sorry it took me so long to post.
> 
> Thank you to all my wonderful readers and my girl exmachina.

Chapter Nine

 

Betty yawned as she walked into the bathroom still half asleep. She jumped at the sight of her hair sticking up all over the place like she had stuck her finger into an electric outlet. She shook her head grabbing the hairbrush off the counter and began to attack the knots. Once her strands were tangle free, she decided to do something different today and leave it down for the day, but it did nothing to hide the dark circles of purple and blue under her eyes or the aches in her joints. That was the last time she would ever sleep in that chair. She moved on to wash her face hoping to get rid of the excess oil that seemed to reside on her skin. 

When she was finished, Betty dried her face with a soft towel and grabbed her toothbrush and started the assault on her. As she began to brush her teeth, Betty walked out of her bathroom over to her closet where she searched through her clothes to look for the outfit choice for the day, which ended up being a loose spaghetti-strapped pink shirt with small black designs on the front of it and a pair of blue denim shorts that reached mid-thigh and black striped flat sandals. Mother nature, apparently decided to blanket the whole state of New York under a lovely toasty heatwave giving it one last dose of summer before trading the green leaves for bare branches. There was one thing she hated, and that was the overwhelming feeling of the heat washing over her and enveloping her in a stuffy layer of itself. Betty used to be okay with the summer heat until she got pregnant and that destroyed her love for everything about it. With that taken care of, she hurried back to the sink to rinse her mouth out. Betty was pulling her shorts up her legs when her phone began to ring. She let out a groan of annoyance at the early disruption.

Another thing she hated, was getting phone calls before she had her first cup of coffee. It was how she was nice to people after all! So in order to shut the damn thing up, she plucked it off the table hitting the answer button not even looking to see who it was and placed it to her ear.

“Hello?” She grumbled into the phone, and she heard a very familiar chuckle on the other line, one she had missed. “Jughead…” Betty sighed closing her eyes instantly feeling bad about her snappy tone.

She could hear his grin through the phone. “You were never a morning person were you?” He teased lightly.

“No.”

Jughead chuckled again before his tone shifted into a serious one. “Hey, sorry for calling you so early, but I was wondering if you could come by The Times before class… There are a few things I want to talk to you about.” He said, sounding nervous.

“Yeah, I can do that,” Betty answered, reaching down to run a hand softly over Ellie’s dark hair. She smiled when the baby jumped from the touch and fluttered her eyes slightly before settling back down in her slumber. It was moments like this that made her heart hurt from the sweetness that was her child. 

“Great. I will see you then.”

“Okay, see you,” Betty said before ending the call. She tucked her phone in her back pocket before reaching down to scoop up Ellie into her arms. She worked quickly in changing her diaper. By the time she pulled the pink jumper over Ellie’s head and snapped its buttons at the end, Ellie was wide awake kicking her legs at her mother’s fiddling hands.

“I know I had to wake you up early-,” Betty cooed to her. “-but I have to go to a meeting,” She added, picking Ellie up off the changing table and walking out to the kitchen to get her bottle.

Thirty minutes later, Betty was walking out of Leigh’s to get back into her car. She drove through the campus grounds until she pulled into a free parking space outside the English building. She grabbed her bag and headed inside.

Betty walked through the hall, passing her mother’s office, sighting the door still closed. She would have to stop by later when her mom was in. She wanted to see how her mother’s date went. A few more steps down the hall and Betty was standing outside the paper office, but the closed sign on the door threw her off. She looked around the corridor to see if Jughead had stepped out for a moment or two but founded it empty. She reached out to test the doorknob to see if it was locked and to her surprise, it turned without any hesitation. So, she decided to go ahead inside only to stop and stare at the office that could swallow the Blue and Gold in one bite. To her left, there was an area with desks that held computers that looked extra sleek and very fast. There was an idea board, that seemed oddly familiar to her, on the wall across from her. The more she looked around, the more she fell in love with the place. It was everything that she had hoped to turn the Blue and Gold into and more.

“It’s pretty big isn’t it?”

Betty jumped and turned around at the sound of the voice to see Jughead coming through the door with his hands filled with boxes. Betty hurried over to the door to hold it open for him, then took one of the boxes from him.

“Thanks,” Jughead smiled walking deeper into the room. He walked over to a large desk setting the box down on top of it. “Did you find it okay?”

Betty gave him a look. “Like it was totally hard to find. Just take a right at my mom’s office and go down three doors. Not to mention that sign on the door or the arrows pointing the way…” She smirked.

“Okay smartass,” Jughead said, rolling his eyes before lifting a lid of the box. “This is for you,” He pulled out a tall coffee cup with the Starbucks logo and handed it to her. “Your white chocolate mocha with caramel drizzle and a splash of half and half.”

“Mmm,” Betty hummed taking the warm cup from Jughead. “Keeping up with our tradition huh?” She asked him taking the lid off her cup and blowing into it so she would not burn her mouth with the first sip.

Jughead looked up from the box with a grin. “Of course. Besides, I felt a little guilty for calling you in so early, so I was hoping to make that a little better.”

Betty gave him a soft smile. “And you knocked it out of the ballpark. So where do you go?” 

Jughead’s eyes filled up with confusion. “What do you mean?”

Betty walked over to an empty desk and sat down on the top of it. “I had a visitor stop by my place yesterday named Jenna who was looking for you. Said no one had seen or heard from you since Friday night, that they were worried about because you weren’t picking up your phone and wondering if I had done something to upset you.” She explained, and Jughead walked over to lean up against the desk that was in front of her. And the sight of him like that almost had her drooling. Her hands were yearning to reach out to him and pull her to him so that she could latch her lips to his. To quench the thirst that only he could satisfy. Betty forced her mind to behave itself by taking a sip of her coffee.

“I see,” Jughead sighed pulling off his hat and tossing on the desk behind him. “I went home to Riverdale,” He divulged. “Saw my dad for a bit and then went and sat in Pop’s for several hours with my laptop.”

“That’s what I figured,” Betty nodded. “I told her that you would return when you were ready.”

“Thanks,” Jughead sighed gratefully. “They can be a bit nosy at times.”

“You think?” Betty snorted then looked behind her at the idea board. “I like what you did there,” she said turning back to Jughead. “Very creative.”

“Well, I did have one of the best teachers. She had a way of engraving her idea on to me,” Jughead stated affectionately. “I admired her in many ways.”

“It sounds like it,” Betty snickered lightly. “And it sounds like she was very smart.”

Jughead rolled his eyes. “She was and sometimes too smart for her own good,” He teased her before turning serious. “So there a few reasons that I asked you here this morning. One to show you around the place and show you your desk. Since you are the first one here today, you can pick your desk.”

Betty looked down at the one she was sitting on. “Found it,” She answered. “Next.”

“Follow me,” Jughead said pulling away from the desk over to the other side of the room. Betty slid off the desk to follow him. They walked around the room with him pointing out the various things to her. Explaining what was what and what went where. It was a little different from the Blue and Gold on the way things were done, but it was mainly the same runway. 

“The only bad thing about the Times is that we have to deal with Arrowhead,” Jughead said slowly when he took a seat at the desk next to her.

“Are you serious?” Betty deadpans sinking into the seat beside him. “That program gave us so many headaches. Couldn’t the have found a better one?” She groaned crossing her legs, and she didn’t miss the way his eyes traveled up her legs. Betty bit down on her lip to keep herself from breaking out into a grin. Boy, did she miss those looks. His eyes continued to climb up her body until they were locking with hers. Watching the way they darkened to a stormy blue, her thighs clenched together to keep herself from getting out of this chair and sitting right down in his lap. Betty chuckled at the thought of his friends walking into that image.

“What’s so funny?” Jughead questioned her, turning his eyes down to his desk to hide his blush. Same old Jughead, Betty thought to herself.

“I have no idea,” Betty lied smoothly, but when Jughead lifted his eyes back up to hers giving her a look that said he didn’t believe her. Why would he? Jughead has only known her what… almost twenty years?

“Sure you do,” Jughead stated confirming her thoughts. “There is also something that I want to ask you.” He told her, sounding a bit hesitant, but enough to cue her interest.

“Jug,” She pressed, insisting silently that he get on with it. 

Jughead let out a deep breath before speaking. “There is a student art show next Monday. As the student editor of the paper, I am required to go, but I was wondering if you would like to go with me.”

Betty’s green eyes narrow. “As what?” She asked him. “As a date or for an assignment?” She wondered.

“Just as friends,” Jughead explained. “These things are incredibly boring, and it would be nice to have someone there with me. Jenna will probably try to set me up with another one of her friends again. I was going to ask you at the party on Friday -”

“Before I dropped the baby bomb on to you?” Betty smiled nervously. She started playing the cuffed hem of her shorts just above the knee.

Jughead nodded. “Yeah, and, I want you to know that I want to be there Betty. I want to be a part of my daughter’s life.”

Betty stared at him. “Are you sure?”

Jughead swiveled his chair across the floor closing the distance between them. He reached to take her hand, the one that was playing with her shorts and looked into her eyes. “Yes, and I don’t need any more time to think about it. I know what it is like to have a missing parent and I don’t want to do that to Ellie. I already have missed so much and don’t want to miss anymore.” 

“I don’t want you to either,” Betty said looking down at their hands and laced her fingers together with his. She smiled gently as the pad of his thumb traced the length of her forefinger.

“How was Ellie this morning?”

“Silly,” Betty answered. “She didn’t much like it when I woke her this morning though.” She laughed. 

“I’m sorry,” Jughead said. “That you had to wake her up. If I had known I would have had you come in later.”

Betty waved her hand at him. “I was on my way to get her up when you called me. So don’t feel too bad about it. I have to wake her up early on Mondays so that I can get her to Leigh’s in time for class.”

“Leigh’s?”

“The lady that watches her while I go to class,” Betty explained. “The campus has a daycare for mother’s who attend here.”

“How do you do your school work?”

Betty shrugged “ I work on it when I can. If she is sleeping when I pick her up, I will work on it at Leigh’s or when she goes to bed.”

“You sound like you have it all under control,” Jughead said, and Betty smiled weakly at him.

“I do?” She whispered. “Because there are times where it doesn’t feel like it. I am just figuring it out as I go.” Betty glanced up at the clock. “I am gonna have to go. My class starts soon.” She said getting out of her chair to get her bag. “Thanks for the coffee.”

“Your welcome,” Jughead smiled getting up as well. “I still have things to get done before the meeting. You are going to be there right?” He asked her.

“Yeah,” Betty nodded. “I will just leave Ellie with my mom.” She said pulling her bag over her shoulder. “And yes.”

Jughead looked at her confused. “Yes to what?” He asked her following her to the door.

Betty turned around. “The art show,” she clarified. “I will go with you.” She added with a smile.

Jughead beamed back at her. “Awesome. It’s at the student union building at 7. The attire is dressy casual I think.”

“Okay. I will meet you there,” Betty said before opening the door. “I better go before I am late.”

“We wouldn’t want that.” Jughead shook his head. Betty tossed him a smile before walking out into the hall. Jughead watched at the door closed behind her as she went. He left out a stiff sigh while he walked back to his desk to work assigning assignments to his reporters later. He worked as quickly as he could but was his mind wasn’t on the work, but a certain blond. Jughead pushed Betty out of his mind for the time being so he could focus. He knew there would be hell to pay if he were to get behind.

-

Later after her class was finished, Betty was walking down the hall toward her mother’s office with her growling stomach. She was hoping that they could grab a quick bite to eat. However, when she arrived, Betty found her mother staring into space with an ashen complexion. Not used to seeing her mother like this, Betty was utterly concerned.

“Mom,” She called to her, but Alice didn’t seem to hear her. So, Betty walked around the desk to her mother’s side. “Mom,” she said again placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.  
The contact of her hand caused Alice to jump and turn her face up at her. Alice’s eyes widen at the sight of Betty.

“Betty,” Alice said with relief in her voice. “When did you get here?” She asked as Betty leaned her side on to the desk.

“Just now,” Betty answered. She was now really worried. “Are you okay?” She asked her mom. Alice Cooper was a well-kept kind of woman and seeing her this frazzled what a bit unnerving for Betty. Even in the toughest times, Alice would always have a game face on. And now she looked like a woman who starred in the death’s face one too many times.

Alice sank back into her chair moving a hand up to her forehead. “I don’t know to be honest,” She sighed. Alice then closed her eyes while she massaged her forehead with her fingers like trying to rub away the pain of a headache.

“Why? What happened? Is this about your date with Callahan?” Betty questioned, and Alice shook her head.

“No. Betty you might want to have a seat,” Alice said motioning toward the chair in front of her desk. Frowning, Betty did exactly that. Alice shook her head before looking at Betty. “I just got off the phone with the District Attorney of Rockland County a little while ago.” She began slowly.

“And what did they want?” Betty asked her. Alice reached down to the floor beside her picking something up then handed it to her. It was a document of some kind. Betty gave Alice a confused looked as she took the papers from her mother and turned them around to read her. “I have been subpoenaed to testify against Hal.”

Betty’s eyes dropped down to the words reading each one carefully. By the time she reached the end, her jaw was hanging open. Betty returned the papers to her mother while she tried to process everything that she had just read. “Are you serious?” Betty snapped rereading it, flipping to the other pages. “They can’t make you do this can they?”

“Apparently so,” Alice drawled dryly. “When you are married to someone for twenty years you must know all their secrets it seems.”

“There as to be a way for you,” Betty said to her. “Have you talked to Linda about this?”

“Not yet,” Alice replied. “I guess I should give her a call and go see her.”

Betty nodded. “I will go with you if you want me to. Just tell me when,” she told her mother firmly.

“I would if you would,” Alice sent her a thankful smile before looking concerned. “What about class and Ellie? There may be more than one meeting, Betty.” She said in a motherly tone.

Betty shrugged. “We can work around class if we need too. Ellie, we can bring with us when we go. We could make a day of it. When is the trial anyway?” Betty wanted to know, not that she cared, but for her mother’s sake, she decided to ask.

“Two months from now,” Alice said and grinned when she heard her a growl erupt from Betty’s stomach. “Some things never change. Wanna go get something? I need to get out of this office to clear my mind to prepare for class later.”

“We can go to the grill if you want, then I will need to go get Ellie,” Betty said getting out of her chair before turning to her mom. “This nightmare will never end with dad will it?” she asked.

Alice smiled as she walked around her desk wrapping an arm around her daughter’s shoulders. “Honey, it will all be over one day. It will continue being a nightmare only if you let it be one. Your dad made his choices, and now he has to live with them, but that doesn’t mean we have to. We didn’t tell him to go and kill those poor people or try to kill his family to fulfill a promise some sicko made many years ago. Now, we get on with our lives and live it the best we can. It is his loss, Betty. Not ours.” Betty sniffled as she listened to her mother’s words. 

“You are right Mom,” She said giving her a small smile.

Alice grinned at her playfully. “I am always right. Now, let’s go get something to eat before you starve to death.” 

“Good idea.” Betty agreed and remembered something. “How did your date go?”

Alice chuckled. “Now, there is a man worth talking about,” She said pulling Betty from the office. “He took me to a nice restaurant across town and talked over glasses of wine.” 

“Sounds like you had a great time.”

“We did.”

-

Later that day. Bett was sitting at her kitchen table with several books opened in front of her. It was a couple of hours before the meeting at the Times, and she wanted to get a few moments of studying in. That was going all very well until she stumbled across a problem. There was a question in her homework that she didn’t know the answer to and it was an answer that she should know about the Catcher of the Rye. It was a quote that she needed but couldn’t remember all of the words and her only copy of the book was currently sitting on her bookshelf in her bedroom that was located an hour or so away. And if she left, Betty wouldn’t be back in time for the meeting. Nor did she have the time to explain to anyway who Ellie was if anyone saw her. Riverdale was small, so that was always a possibility. Especially Fred or Fp. So, Betty was sitting stumped.

“The library!!!” she said out loud to the ghosts that were everywhere in her apartment. Yeah, so what. Betty Cooper believed in ghosts. There were a lot of people in the world that believed in them. Betty jumped out of her chair and crossed the room over to Ellie who was on her stomach. Betty blinked in surprise when she found Ellie in that position.

“How did you do that?” Betty asked her looking at the baby who was dripping slobber all over the floor. Betty shook her head as she sank to her knees next to her daughter. “Oh, Ellie girl, you were supposed to let me see it,” She pouted picking Ellie up off the floor feeling completely bummed that she missed a big milestone. “You know what, we will not accept that as your first roll over. I refuse to say it was,” She said to Ellie kissing her to her cheek then got off the ground.

Betty tucked Ellie on her hip. “We have to do a quick little errand,” She explained to her while grabbing her keys and hurried out the door. After a short walk, Betty entered the English building for the second time that day. The cool air was welcoming as she entered the library and weaved through the rows of shelves to the front desk where the elderly librarian was sitting knitting what appeared to be a green and yellow scarf. She looked up greeting Betty with a welcoming smile.

“How can I help you?” She asked her, and her eyes fell to the baby on her hips. “Well, hello there,” She said getting to her feet smiling widely at Ellie. “What a beautiful child,” she murmured. “She looks a lot like you. Are you her mother?”

Betty had to fight back the urge to roll her eyes at the lady. Being the good girl that she was trained to be. Betty smiled at her before turning her eyes down at Ellie. “Thank you, and yes I am,” She answered placing a soft kiss on Ellie’s head before turning back to the lady in front of her. However, Betty was not greeted by the same warm smile.

“You are kind of young to be having a baby,” the lady noted, frowning disapprovingly at her. Betty was a bit taken back by the response and didn’t know what to say. She cleared her throat and blinked her eyes pulling her game face on. “Are you married? Back in my day, a young lady was never seen with a child without being wedded.”

Betty sighed. “Those poor women being forced into marriages they never wanted. And if I am married or not, that is none of your business.”  
“I will take that as a no,” the lady shook her head. “You girls have no common sense about keeping your legs closed. Didn't your mother teach you about birth control?”

Betty glared at her. “Lady, it is 2021. It is not your place to judge so get off your high horse and point me in the direction of the classical fiction before I go get my mother, Alice Cooper, and slap your face on the front page of a newspaper for being a judgemental bitch,” She pressed, and the lady’s eyes widen.

“You are Alice Cooper’s daughter?”

“Proudly so,” Betty nodded. “Now Classical Fiction? Where is it? Because I have things to do and it is not standing here and arguing with you about how young of a mother I am.” She breathed as anger burned her veins at the gall of this woman...not this old bat. Betty decided. The lady had the audacity to look apologetic and opened her mouth. “Don’t you dare apologize now that you know who my mother is. It will do nothing to help you.” She added harshly. “Help me find the book I need, and I might decide to drop the newspaper article.”

“What is the book?”

“The Catcher of the Rye,” Betty replied, shifting Ellie in her arms. She was starting to regret not using the stroller, but she was not expecting to go war with super duper grandma here.

The lady picked up a note pat jotting a few things down before handing it to Betty. Betty said nothing while she snatched it out of the woman’s hand walking away without another word. Betty followed the directions the lady had given her and soon had the book in her hand and was ready to go back to the house. But on her way to check out, Betty found herself walking into the path of Sidney and Jenna. They stopped in their tracks when they saw her.

“What are you doing here?” Jenna snarked at her icily. Betty felt the all familiar itch return to her palm, but she would refuse to do it while holding her daughter. So she smiled at the bitch.

“I am not in the mood for your dumbass today,” Betty tossed back hotly. “Why is anyone here, Jenna?” She asked sarcastically. “I am pretty sure that you don’t need me to answer that.”

Jenna rolled her eyes before dropping her gaze to Ellie in her arms. “Where did you get the baby from? You do know kidnapping is illegal right?” 

“Well lucky for me, I will never be charged for such a crime because this is my daughter,” Betty said and almost laughed out loud at the sight of their eyes widening to the size of cup saucers.

“You have a baby?” Sidney asked her, stunned. “How?”

Betty closed her eyes at the question. “Did you seriously ask me that? How does anyone have a baby? Go to a baby store and buy one?” She shook her head at Sidney. “Don’t let my mom hear you say that.” Betty snickered.

Sidney flushed bright red. “You know what I mean,” Sidney snapped at her. 

Betty bit down on her lip before replying. “Actually, I don’t. I mean the question of how is a very broad subject. And one I don’t have the time to answer, but if you need the answer of how someone has a baby, I am sure you can google it. And as for how, it can mean so many things.” She shrugged, and Sidney continued to glower at her. “Well, thank you, ladies, for the entertainment, but I must be going. Sidney, I will see you later at the meeting.” She said before walking around the girls and leaned down to Ellie.

“Never repeat a word that Mommy says,” Betty advised her infant daughter. “We will come into contact with very dumb people in our lifetimes, but you young lady will be a better example of me. Do you understand me?” She asked, and Ellie did nothing but let out a little coo at her mother’s words. “Good girl.”


	11. Chapter Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A chapter full of cute moments between our one and only bughead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Did you miss me?

Hi, everyone! Did you miss me?

 

Chapter Ten

  
  


Betty held Ellie, who would sound asleep to her chest while she walked through her apartment to the door. “Hey, Mom,” she said to the older woman stepping back to let in the door.

 

“She’s asleep?” Alice sighed at the sight of the sleeping baby. “I was hoping that I would get to play with her for a bit.”

 

Betty grinned at her mother. “Well, she has been asleep for a few hours, so maybe you will get lucky before I get back.”

 

“Hand her over,” Alice demanded, and Betty rolled her eyes.

 

“You act like you haven’t seen her,” Betty laughed before carefully transferring Ellie over to her mom praying that the baby would not wake up. Because then Ellie’s hell bells lungs would let loose from her nap being interrupted. “Are you sure you are okay watching her while I go to this meeting?”

 

“Are you kidding me?” Alice scoffed, settling down into the sofa. “I have been looking forward to this all day, and you can’t miss the first meeting, Betty.”

 

“Just making sure,” Betty said over her shoulder while slipping on her sneakers. “There are bottles in the fridge for when she wakes up. I suspect she will be pretty hungry because she is her father’s child when it comes to food, and if you get hungry, go ahead and help yourself. I am going to get going before I am late. Do you need anything before I go?”

 

“I think I am covered.”

 

“Okay. Also, I have Netflix on my laptop if you get bored,” Betty said, pointing to the computer at the end of the couch.

 

“Betty, stop worrying and go,” Alice told her sternly, and Betty glared at her.

 

“I was just making sure about everything,” Betty huffed. “I will never be satisfied until my checklist is completed.” Betty grabbed her bag and her key before doing one more sweep around the apartment for anything that might come to mind. “I will see you guys later.” She said, walking out the door.

 

As she was walking down the hallway to the stairs, she passed by a door where there was very loud music coming from the inside. Betty froze in her tracks as a grin came to her face. She backed up, going to the door before using her fist to cause several loud knocks. Betty tapped her foot waiting for the door to open and went it didn’t she pounded her fist again, this time even louder. A second later, the door opened to reveal the asshole guy from last week when Ellie was screaming her head off.

 

“Hi,” she smirked at him and pointed over to the stereo where the loud music was coming from. “You need to turn that shit down before you wake up my daughter.”

 

The guy scoffed at her. “No,” he snipped at her making her take a deep breath.

 

“Yeah,” she began slowly, “I figured that you would probably say that and fine. But just so you know if you wake her up into another screaming match, it will be your fault. Just don’t go to my door complaining because then you will have to deal with my mother, Alice Cooper.”

 

The guy’s face paled at the name before walking over to the stereo bringing the volume way down to an acceptable level. “Are you happy?” he asked her.

 

“Very,” Betty nodded and glanced down the hall. “Besides, I was just thinking of your benefit. I mean you don’t want to see Alice Cooper when she is pissed off. Trust me, I have years of experience, and it is not fun.”

 

“Oh, I know.”

 

Betty laughed before backing away from the door. “Thank you for doing that and great song choice by the way.” Betty turned on her heel walking down the hall and the stairs to her car.

  
  


A few minutes and a stop of the coffee cart later, Betty walked into the Times office that was filled with a few students. Most of them were talking amongst themselves, and Betty had no desire to engage even when their eyes turned her way. She sent them a polite smile as she walked over to her desk, sitting down in the chair. Her mind rushing back to when Jughead was sitting across from her with his blue eyes on her legs. God, she loved having that effect on him. What can she say? It made her feel good, knowing that Jughead reacted that way towards her. Betty’s eyes scanned the room for the man that was on her mind but didn’t see him anywhere. 

 

Betty pulled her notebook out of her bag. Jughead had told her that she didn’t need to bring her laptop because it was only the first of the year meeting. It was to go over the basics such as events that they will be covering with dates given, publication dates, and deadlines. Assignments will also be offered on a first come, first serve basis.

 

“Don’t get too comfortable there.”

 

Betty looked up from her notebook to see Sidney standing in front of her desk with her a big box in her arms. “How come?” she asked the girl.

 

“Jughead likes to assign everyone their seats,” Sidney explained to her placing her box on to the desk beside hers. “You will have to find the desk that has your name on it.”

 

“That is probably what this is for,” Betty sighed, picking a piece of paper turning it around so that Sidney could read the front of it. “It has Betty on it, and Betty is my name, so I just put two and two together.”  Betty just rolled her eyes at the girl before placing the paper back on to the desk.

 

“Why do you have to be such a bitch for?”

 

Betty let out a slow breath before turning back to the girl. “Because I deal with dumbasses on a daily basis, that's why.” Betty brought her coffee to her lip and took a deep swig allowing herself to chuckle internally at the harsh glare Sidney gave her before walking away to another desk in the room and thank God! Betty was ready to run out of the room if Sidney had planted her butt in that seat beside her. A few more students entered the room, including David.

 

“Nice to see you again, Cooper,” David said, sliding into the seat next to her opening his laptop. 

 

“So this is why the coffee doesn’t taste right,” Betty grinned at him holding up her cup. “It doesn’t have the boldness I love about it.”

 

“Yep,” David sighed leaning back in his chair. “I try to get all the others who staff it to make it my way, but they don’t care. They just want to make that extra buck for to line their pockets.”

 

“Don’t we all want that extra buck. You never know what you could do with it or the possibilities it can lead to,” Betty said as the door slammed shut as Jughead walked into the room.

 

“Sorry, I am late folks,” Jughead said, walking to the front of the room. “I was waiting for Mrs. Cooper, but it seems like that she won’t be able to make it today due to personal reasons. So we will go ahead and get started. Who wants to do the minutes?” Jughead looked around the room at his team and groaned.

 

“Please let’s not start the year out like this,” Jughead snapped at them. “We need to be better than last year. Now who wants to do the minutes?” he repeated once again.

 

Betty looked around the room, and nobody seemed to be too eager for the job, so she just raised her hand. “I will do it,” she said, quickly flipping to a clean sheet in her notebook jotting down a headline.

 

“Great,” Jughead nodded in her direction before beginning to pass out folders to each student. “What I am giving you is very important. Do not lose it because of the information that these folders hold.  If you do lose it, be sure to contact another member of the Times or me so you can have access to the dates. Remember the rule is final, if your story is not in at the deadline, it will not be published, and if it is not published due to no turn in, it is not my fault. You are not babies, so you don’t need me to hold your hand while turn in your assignments. There are no grades for these papers; it just the fact that this is a paper — a real newspaper. I want you to treat this as your real job because the students and faculty of this school deserve to know the truth. We owe it to our readers to let them know what is happening around them.”

 

Betty watched Jughead walk around the room to each desk. His voice was loud and clear. She could see that he took his job very seriously, and she could not help but be proud of him. It reminded her of when Jughead would talk to his Serpents when he gave them all jobs or had to crack down on the Serpents who slipped a toe out of line. Jughead stopped his speech to answer a question, and Betty could see that he was in his element and damn she loved it. Then again, Betty had shaped the man before her as he stopped at her desk to give her her folder.

 

Betty pushed it aside, making a mental note to look at it later as she continued to write down everything that was being discussed at the moment. Jughead walked back to the front leaning against his desk with his arms crossed his chest with a slight scowl on his face that had Betty biting down on her lip. It was illegal for him to look that good in front of her. Betty cleared her throat, forcing herself to look away to concentrate on what she was doing, but it was so hard with him talking in that sexy voice. The raspy need with an underlining meaning to every word. She had missed it.  Betty wondered what would happen if she waited until everyone left the room after the meet and got up only to lock the door behind them so that she could plant a kiss on those lips of his. Then have her way with him on that very desk. It wouldn’t be the first time they did it on a desk, hell there were many times he would take her from behind on her desk in the Blue and Gold. Her favorite time was Homecoming their senior year. They had been dancing, and Jughead had been especially frisky that night, which led to her dragging him into their space and well let’s just say their clothes didn’t even make it to the floor.

 

The topic changed to the dates of events which Betty pulled the sheet from her folder. Jughead went on to explain that each reporter had to attend at least two of the events listed. The assigning for the events will be discussed closer to the date. Betty looked at the list and sighed. There was a lot of events that would be happening over the course of the term. There was a student government debate that had her interest and a charity alumni event that also caught her eye. Sporting events were also on the list, but she was never the one who founds sports fun. Yes, she had chosen to go into cheerleading in high school, but only so she could list another activity for her college applications.

 

“Now the first event on our horizon is the Student Art Gallery,” Jughead said to the listeners of the room. “We will need several people to attend because of the size of this event. Vassar has a big eye on the arts so it should be no surprise that the school board requested big a media presence. It is on Monday, so please let me know now if you can attend by raising your hand.”

 

Betty watched as at least four hands, hers included, raised. Jughead said nothing as he turned to each one of them asking for their name before writing it down. “Alright. I think I got everyone here. Let’s move on to subjects for this first edition. Does anyone have an idea on what we can do for it?”

 

Betty raised her hand once again. 

 

“Betty?”

 

“How about we interview a few students from the freshman class?” she suggested to him, “asking them how from transitioning from high school to college has affected them?”

 

“Hmm,” Jughead hummed pulling on his lip. “That is not a bad idea. Does anyone else have any objection to that?” he looked around the room to the other reporters. “I guess you have your first assignment, Betty. Can you handle it?”

 

“Of course I can. I just have to get a few statements from the students so it can’t be that hard,” Betty said to Jughead before crossing her arms. Jughead stared at her for a moment before she is sending him a big grin. Betty could see him fight back his own grin before he responded to her.

 

“Good,” he said, pulling his eyes away from her. She had to bite the inside of her cheek as he asked for other ideas. 

 

“Last year, we had students unaware of student activities,” Sidney said from her seat, “Maybe we can have a list of them with the date and times so that students know them.”

 

“I like that idea, Sidney. This campus is so big that it can be hard to know what is happening on either end. It is important for the students to socialize, so you have my approval.”

 

The rest of the meeting went by smoothly, and soon, the sounds of chairs scraping across the floor echoed off the walls. Betty tore the minutes from her notebook and waited until everyone left the room before walking over to Jughead’s desk to give them to him.

 

“So you survived your first meet,” Jughead said, taking the pieces of paper from her. “What did you think?”

 

“I’m impressed,” Betty said before smirking at him, “although I felt like I was watching a male version of myself but with a bit of Serpent King mixed into the batch.”

 

“I thought you would notice that,” Jughead smiled at her, getting out of his chair to make a copy of the minutes. “I always do this. Last year someone lost the minutes, and it was complete chaos.”

 

“That sucks.”

 

“It did. So now, I make two copies of the minutes. One for your mom so she can know what happens and one extra in case if something happens to the original. You know what is even better about these?”

 

“What?”

 

“I can actually read these without getting a headache,” Jughead said as he moved back to his desk where he stapled the copies together before sitting down on top of the desk. “I have learned that I hate chicken scratch writing.”

 

“Then you should hate your own kind of chicken scratch,” Betty snickered earning herself a playful glare from Jughead.

 

“Very funny.”

 

Betty beamed at him, making his heart twist in painful knots. “It was funny. At least it was for me,” she giggled. “Now you know how I felt every time that I had to read your handwriting,” Betty sassed at him.

 

“My handwriting is not that bad Coop.”

 

“If you say so,” Betty snorted before entering her plea. “Some nights it took me hours to get through some of your stuff. I couldn’t tell a T from and I.”

 

“I didn’t hear you complain when I would send you those little love notes in history class.”

 

“They were the only things that kept me awake during Coach Clayton’s war stories, and I love getting those little notes. And the only reason that you would sneak me those notes was because you would always get something in return,” Betty said taking a step closer to him feeling the air around them becoming charge like a sky during a thunderstorm with lightning waiting to strike. 

 

Betty saw that way Jughead swallowed slowly as his eyes darken to a midnight blue. And she knew that he could feel a change in the air. “In fact, the more I think about it, you would only send those notes on the days we had a meeting in the Blue and Gold. If I didn’t know any better, I think would sneak those notes on purpose,” she said.

 

“Damn, I knew you would figure it out,” Jughead sighed dramatically. “I was wondering when you would catch on to my methods.”

 

Betty shrugged her shoulders. “As you said before, you never did hear me complain,” she reminded him with a coy smile. 

 

“I know. You were always busy doing other things,” Jughead added with a knowing smirk lighting up his handsome face. “Like me.”

 

Betty shook her head at the man before her trying to come up with something to counteract his words. But she didn’t get the chance as her phone began to ring.  Betty let out a frustrated sigh as she dug it out of her pocket.

 

“Looks like you were-”

 

Betty gave him a pointed stare. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence, Jughead Jones. Even you are more original than that,” she said grimacing as she was too late to answer the call. “Shit, that was my boss.” Betty gave him an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, but I better go and call her back.”

 

“Don’t worry about it,” Jughead said, leaping off the desk to turn everything off and grab his things so that he too could leave. “I wouldn’t mind getting something to eat anyway.

 

They break apart to go their separate ways outside the building. Betty watched him go with so many things she wanted to tell him on the tip of her tongue. She closed her eyes as she got into her car and pulled out her phone to call Trish back before heading back to her apartment to her Mom and Ellie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nope nope nope. No Jughead meeting Ellie yet! But the chapter is very close. I am not going to tell you which chapter it is because well where is the fun in that? And no it is not the next chapter either. I want to commit a full chapter one that one inside of little scenes since it is a big chapter for this story and the lives of my characters.

**Author's Note:**

> Hehehe… I have a thing about being evil like this, but this is only the prologue. I think I have it set up pretty good...Well until next time...See ya.


End file.
